DD TV on mobile was due to be launched on Republic Day this year, reports the Hindu. Trials, using DVB-H, have been successful, but the report does not mention what is holding them back - probably spectrum. No date has been fixed for the launch, either. Nokia too has launched the N-92. User Generated Content (UGC) will be big on Mobile TV suggests the report, quoting a London School of Economics report.

Mobile TV has been demonstrated in India often enough - at Mobile Asia, Samsung had demonstrated Korean TV channels via DVB-SH. At India Telecom 2006 - Nokia and Ericsson had got temporary licenses for 3G spectrum for demonstrating mobile TV via DVB-H.
At the BES Expo 2007, I spoke to Dr.Nikhil Jain, CTO India for Qualcomm about the technology that they’re pushing - MediaFLO. One really couldn’t make out the difference between MediaFLO and DVB-H, from a users perspective. Qualcomm claims that MediaFLO is more spectral efficient, consumes less battery and has shorter channel switching time, which he says will become clear only after deployment, and is difficult to gauge under test or demonstration conditions. More on MediaFLO here. Nokia’s argument is simple - DVB-H is an open standard and they feel that it will help push costs down and make mobile TV affordable. More importantly, it will offer greater scope for flexibility in business models. Adoption of proprietary technology is always slower, which is why GSM has more users in India than CDMA, was the argument put forth by Nokia.
Qualcomm argues that MediaFlo isn’t necessarily proprietary - it’s a global standard with over 70 members a part of the FLO Forum, with over 20 members pending approval. He also mentioned that MediaFLO has adequate DRM, and the spectral efficiency of MediaFLO enables an additional channel which Qualcomm is calling Clipcast, to be broadcast for on-demand content which will be automatically stored on the users handset. I guess Qualcomm also becomes another addition to the value chain, and hence costs escalate; the handset cost for mobile TV will be higher than that of a normal 3G handset. I guess Qualcomm also becomes another addition to the value chain, and hence costs could be an issue. Verizon intends to launch V-Cast TV in the US in this quarter, based on CDMA200.
Apart from cost, I think battery life, which is already the bane of mobile phone users, will need to be improved.
Related:
- Nokia To Do Mobile TV Broadcasting Trials With Doordarshan In 2007
- Qualcomm WCDMA Seminar At DCE: Mobile TV Applications