Mobile TV network No. 3 emerges

After quietly accruing spectrum in the 700 MHz UHF TV bands for five years, Aloha Partners is finally ready to launch a service. But instead of the broadband wireless access service it originally detailed, Aloha is getting into the mobile TV business, announcing today at the National Association of Broadcasters conference that it is partnering with SES-Americom to launch the third mobile TV broadcast system in the U.S., using digital video broadcast-hand-held, or DVB-H, technology over enough spectrum to double the channel capacity of both its competitors — Qualcomm's MediaFLO and Crown Castle's Modeo.

The new network, called Hiwire, will use 12 MHz of capacity in channels 54 and 59 of the old UHF band, compared with 6 MHz of capacity in channel 55, which Qualcomm is using, and the 5 MHz of 1.6 GHz radio astronomy spectrum licensed to Modeo. That capacity will give Hiwire an enormous advantage when competing for carrier and mobile virtual network operator customers, said Scott Wills, president and chief operating officer of Aloha Partners. Hiwire will be able to offer bigger and more diverse programming bundles.

“We can deliver twice as much programming as our competitors,” he said. “We have an entirely separate set of channels we can use to differentiate ourselves from FLO.”

SES-Americom already has an edge in IP video, encoding and delivering video streams from hundreds of broadcasters to IP video providers like BellSouth. The Hiwire system will use Americom's satellite distribution network and its encoding facilities in Vernon Valley, N.J., to power its initial broadcasts, while Aloha Partners will build out the Hiwire network itself, using anywhere from one to three broadcast towers to blanket a market.

Much of the groundwork for the content delivery system is already laid, said Bryan McGuirk, president of media solutions for SES-Americom. Americom already encodes its IP video into MPEG-4 format for its IP video customers, and the same delivery system used for its wireline customers will be used for Hiwire, McGuirk said. “We have the perfect baseline from which to deliver DVB-H video,” he said.

Another key advantage Hiwire shares with Qualcomm is the characteristics of its UHF spectrum. Unlike Modeo's 1.6 GHz spectrum or cellular and PCS bands, the 700 MHz bands can be used to broadcast at extremely high power, so Aloha can build a network transmitting at 50,000 W, giving it enough range to build a nationwide network with a few thousand towers. Modeo and some international operators have to transmit at lower power and deal with the lower propagation characteristics of higher frequencies, requiring a much tighter, more expensive footprint.

However, Qualcomm and Hiwire both share the problem of the politics surrounding their 700 MHz licenses. Originally held by analog TV broadcasters, many of the spectrum's current occupants are still using the airwaves, and the FCC has given them until 2009 to move to digital bands. Although Hiwire has 12 MHz in many markets, it can use only 6 MHz in most of them, unless it can persuade the current occupants to vacate sooner.

MediaFLO USA

Technology: FLO

Spectrum: 6 MHz in 700 MHz band (UHF channel 55)

Launch: Currently running trials in Las Vegas and other cities, plans commercial launch in top markets by end of 2006.

Hiwire

Technology: DVB-H

Spectrum: 12 MHz in 700 MHz band (UHF channels 54 and 59)

Launch: Announced first trial market in Las Vegas, scheduled for this fall.

Modeo

Technology: DVB-H

Spectrum: 1670 MHz to 1675 MHz

Launch: Completed pilot in Pittsburgh in 2005, launch in a few top cities in 2006 and rollout 30 biggest U.S. markets in 2007.