Mobile TV misses World Cup opportunity

This year's FIFA World Cup wasn't just a test of soccer powerhouses, it was a test of the newest technology to hit wireless. The first mobile TV services were available in time for this installment of the world's most popular sporting event, and the wireless industry kept its eyes focused on Germany to witness mobile TV's impact.

At least, that was the plan.

Mobile TV didn't quite have the presence that many had hoped. Aside from the broadcast services that have been running in South Korea for more than a year, only a handful of operators managed to get digital video broadcasting-hand-held (DVB-H) networks launched in Europe for the World Cup, and some of them didn't turn their services up until mid-June, halfway through the initial matches.

“I don't think we've seen a boom,” wrote Matt Hatton, Yankee Group European wireless analyst, via e-mail. “There's been some additional content purchased, but boom would be too strong a term, I think. If anything, I think it's been a bit of a missed opportunity, but necessarily so due to the immaturity of broadcast services. If operators had true real-time broadcast of full games on mobile with reasonably priced handsets and sufficient marketing, they would have done a roaring trade.”

The Mobile DTV Alliance, an industry group composed of DVB-H players, estimated that between 1 million and 2 million subscribers had access to a DVB-H device during the month-long sporting event. While those numbers may seem paltry compared to the billions of people who watched the World Cup on a full-sized TV, said Yoram Solomon, president of the Mobile DTV Alliance, it still has significance, particularly considering that it's likely 100% of those 1 million to 2 million used their handsets to watch coverage of the World Cup or the matches themselves. Ultimately though, the full impact of mobile TV during the World Cup won't be known until the months after its conclusion (the final match was played on July 9, with Italy declared the victor).

“It might be a little early to tell what the impact was — we're still waiting to hear from the carriers,” Solomon said. “It probably would have made a bigger splash, though, if they had launched service a few months before the games instead of right before or during the games.”

Though mobile TV's presence at the World Cup was small, it doesn't mean it wasn't effective, said Scott Wills, president and chief operating officer of HiWire, a new DVB-H network being launched by Aloha Partners. While soccer may not be the sport of choice for most Americans, a lot of parallels can be drawn between the way the World Cup is watched overseas and the way U.S. customers would approach other sporting events like the men's college basketball NCAA tournament. Dozens of games are played over half a dozen rounds spanning several weeks, and many of those games are held at times of day when lots of people are at work.

“It's inevitable that this kind of event programming will be used to sell mobile TV,” Wills said. “Sports is simply the number one programming category to promote use and awareness of the service.”

Wills said DVB-H's performance at the World Cup appeared to be mixed: The quality of programming and picture was good on most devices, but many customers were incapable of getting a good reception, even in markets where the service was supposed to be live. Those coverage issues and the low overall exposure of customers to the service may appear to be a bad omen for the fledgling technology, but that's not necessarily the case, Wills said.

“The important thing is you have to draw attention to the fact that television is available on the mobile device,” Wills said. “You have to meet a certain minimal level of acceptable service for the early adopters, but it's not the same yardstick you would use for the mass market. … Those early adopters will create a buzz for the service.”