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  • Watch TV on your cellphone soon

    India may soon become the second country to see the launch of satellite TV channels designed specifically for mobile phones.

    Dutch company Irdeto, part of a five-member consortium, that rolled out the first satellite-TV-over-the-cellphone service in South Korea five months ago, has reported "encouraging response" to the idea from Indian content owners and mobile service providers.

    "We see a lot of potential for satellite TV on cellphones in India over the next three years," said Thierry Raymaekers, the Holland-based company's managing director for Asia Pacific. Raymaekers is here, heading a delegation, to discuss a tie-up with a south Indian player for rolling out the direct-to-home television service.

    The delegation, which also discussed with the music and film industry ways to combat piracy, is learnt to have pushed hard for the mobile operators in India to go with its technology for delivering TV content to mobile phones over rivals such as the Nokia-promoted Digital Video Broadcast (handheld) or DVB-H standard.

    The technology, called Digital Multimedia Broadcast Service or DMBS, became the first one to pass the trial stage at the beginning of this year, beating DVB-H, which is still undergoing trials.

    Both technologies work by implanting chips in mobile phones and other devices that have the ability to capture and process digital signals bounced off satellites specially for the purpose.

    The company said that India, with over 60 million mobile phone consumers and double that number of satellite channel subscribers, is a good market for a marriage between the two.

    "India has both the mobile subscription base and the satellite TV base to make it happen," says the company's vice-president for sales, Parvaiz Ahsan.

    "Besides, the increasing mobility is only going to fuel consumers' demand for on-the-move entertainment," he adds, claiming that his company expects as many as 50,000 subscribers to sign up in the first two years after the roll out of such a service.

    In Korea, the service already has a dozen TV and nearly two-dozen radio channels. Since its launch in May this year, nearly 170,000 Koreans have signed up for the $ 10-a-month service. They are utilising every penny of the $10 they pay.

    Though the company refuses to give the cost of putting a satellite receiver with a decoder on the mobile-phone, Ahsan says that such phones are being bundled for around $300 (Rs 13,000) in Korea. "The exact split up of the cost of the cell-phone, the reception equipment and subsidies provided by the service-provider cannot be revealed," he points out.

    Though around 16 brands in Korea have satellite-enabled their devices for the service, a high-end phone with DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcast) brought out by Samsung recently costs around $ 650 (Rs 28,700) when not bundled with a subscription scheme.

    Besides phones, DMB reception equipment are also being put on virtually anything with a colour screen and a processor on it, including portable digital video-players, pocket PCs, car-TVs etc in Korea. Japan had already seen the launch of a dedicated in-car satellite entertainment system at the beginning of the year.
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  • #2
    But this kind of tech butkill your mobile batteries.

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    • #3
      But at 10 US$ [RS 500] is a steal ;).
      Hala Madrid!!

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      • #4
        Originally posted by indianguy4u
        But at 10 US$ [RS 500] is a steal ;).
        Depends on how much you can make.
        It translates into uS$120 per year.

        I don't know who really like to watch TV on such a small cellphone screen. Maybe just for showing off.

        It makes sense to integrate the function into a PDA or such that has a larger screen. Or integrate function of satellite radio for music into cell phones.

        Satellite radio for music is popular in US. US$10 per month for muisc without commercial ads. Technically, you can acess to it anywhere anytime in US.
        Last edited by oneman28; 30 Sep 05,, 16:29.

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        • #5
          I lost the 46" widescreen in the divorce and downgraded to a 36". There is no way I am going down to a 1.5".
          :)
          "To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are."-Sholem Asch

          "I always turn to the sports page first, which records people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures."-Earl Warren

          "I didn't intend for this to take on a political tone. I'm just here for the drugs."-Nancy Reagan, when asked a political question at a "Just Say No" rally

          "He no play-a da game, he no make-a da rules."-Earl Butz, on the Pope's attitude toward birth control

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          • #6
            Originally posted by TopHatsLiberal
            I lost the 46" widescreen in the divorce and downgraded to a 36". There is no way I am going down to a 1.5".
            :)


            This maybe good for Americans who drive a lot. for those who can install flat-panel tv on vehicles. TV on cell phones is not so useful
            Last edited by oneman28; 30 Sep 05,, 16:35.

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            • #7
              Dude, this is totally awesome. But the question is, is it really as wireless as we think it is? If its something that supports so much of bandwidth why not use the tech to connect ot the internet over it?

              If its just a phone with a port to connect it to an RF/AV or any other cable, then that just sucks.

              People listen to the radio extensively on their phones. They'd equally love to catch an episode of some of their fav. shows on tv. But it has to be a completely wireless system. And coverage should be as much as the GSM networks.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by TopHatsLiberal
                I lost the 46" widescreen in the divorce and downgraded to a 36". There is no way I am going down to a 1.5".
                :)
                Poor thing

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Asim Aquil
                  Dude, this is totally awesome. But the question is, is it really as wireless as we think it is? If its something that supports so much of bandwidth why not use the tech to connect ot the internet over it?

                  If its just a phone with a port to connect it to an RF/AV or any other cable, then that just sucks.

                  People listen to the radio extensively on their phones. They'd equally love to catch an episode of some of their fav. shows on tv. But it has to be a completely wireless system. And coverage should be as much as the GSM networks.

                  If the signal comes from satellite not the wireless towers, the device or antena of the device should be in the open air or expose to the satelite beam like GPS and satelite TV. This could not be pratical for cell phone users.

                  I guess, the process centers of the wireless networks receive the signal and process it and then broadcast the TV signals to the cellphone users via the wireless tower.

                  The above is just my guess. There maybe other smarter way to handle this. But the coverage should not be a problem anyway.

                  This is good only when the screen is larger. Cell phone screen is too small. It is good if the cellphone has a port so that the user can connected it with a bigger display. In this case, cell phone is used as a receiver.

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                  • #10
                    Already video content are streamed in 3G phones. So its not entirely new, it was even demostrated by Sprint/Verizon thro their CDMA lines.

                    Satlellite radio is not that popular, not many people like the idea of paying $10 subscription. ofcourse there are customers who is willing to pay for premium content, but they arent the majority.

                    LG/Samsung phones in India offers cell phones with FM tuner and their battery precariously dies it, if you listen to them for hours.
                    A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun of Adam !!

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