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Riding the Satellite TV Wave on Mobile Devices
The service is called MOBAHO, a satellite digital broadcast aligned specifically for outdoor and moving objects. At the moment, MOBAHO's dedicated terminal is limited to a specialized palm-sized tuner, and the company has postponed the release of its specialized PC card tuner for notebooks and in-car tuners, which had been scheduled to go on sale in December.
The Tokyo-based Mobile Broadcasting Co. was formed in 1998 and has about 88 corporate investors, of whom the foremost are Toshiba, Nippon Television and Toyota Motor Corp. The company launched a dedicated satellite in March, in cooperation with the Korean mobile telephone carrier SK Telecom, and began broadcasts on Oct. 20 in Japan. Mobile phone broadcasts began this month in Korea.
The service consists of seven video channels and 30 audio channels. There's also a data information channel with stock market information, news and weather. The video channels take the most popular family programs from satellite digital broadcasting. Three channels are designated to news programming, including NHK. Other programs in the line-up include MTV, animation, variety shows, sports and racing information. In addition to the monthly basic rate of 400 yen ($4), four package options are available, such as video-only for 1,380 yen ($13) and video and audio for 2,080 yen ($20).
Image resolution for MOBAHO devices is at best held to QVGA (320 by 240 dots) for the seven-inch car monitor. This resolution quality is not good enough to appreciate a movie; it's better suited to viewing live news and sports on mobile devices.
Satellite digital broadcasting for mobile objects is, of course, nothing new. XM Satellite Radio and SIRIUS Satellite Radio use a multichannel audio broadcasting service on the same S-Band directed at moving objects, such as automobiles. Although both companies provide approximately 100 audio channels, they do not have video services. This is largely due to the difference in the size of the usage area. In the United States, two companies are sharing 12.5 MHz apiece, but MOBAHO is able to use all 25 MHz.
A large parabolic antenna is required to view satellite broadcasts on an average television set. But with MOBAHO, even a small-scale antenna on a mobile terminal can receive the powerful electromagnetic waves (2.6 GHz S-Band) sent out from the world's largest antenna -- a gigantic 39 feet -- attached to a fixed satellite 223 miles above Papua New Guinea.
From Japan, the fixed satellite is in the south at a south-easterly direction and within a 40 to 50 degree angle (wave angle) from the ground. Although some visibility in this direction is needed to receive feeds, the antenna need not be as strictly aligned as for the average satellite broadcast for television, but aligned to a general area in the southern sky. In urban areas an infrastructure is being constructed by placing "gap-filler" retransmitting devices in cities where satellite waves cannot be received, such as in the shadows of high-rise buildings.
Mobile Broadcasting is tapping into the whirlwind of interest spurred by the 2003 launch of digital terrestrial broadcasting in Japan's major cities. All eyes are now on the upcoming "one-segment broadcasting" for mobile phones slated to launch this year or in 2006. MOBAHO and one-segment broadcasting are the same in that they are both TV broadcasts targeting mobile terminals, but there is an enormous difference between satellite broadcasting and terrestrial broadcasting.
Digital terrestrial broadcasting divides one airwave into 13 segments. It uses four of the segments for normal image broadcasting, 12 segments for high vision broadcasting and only one segment is designated for mobile terminals, thus the term "one-segment broadcasting."
This service allows TV programs that are viewed freely at home to be viewed in the same way on a mobile device. Thanks to Net-connected mobile phones, new listening styles and business opportunities will likely evolve from this combination of the Internet and broadcast media.
The realities of linking the Internet with broadcasting were demonstrated when NHK and the mobile phone carrier KDDI performed demonstrations of their mobile prototypes in May at the NHK Science and Technical Research Laboratories' Open House. As a TV drama played on the phone, information about a star's outfit appeared at the bottom of the screen. The viewer could order the outfit online instantly, and an installed GPS system tracked the viewer's position and displayed a map of the closest store carrying the clothes. With sports programs, the viewer could see a simulaneous display of two different camera angles of the playing field.
Mobile phone and terminal manufacturers are racing to develop TV mobiles, aiming for their products to hit the market with the launch of one-segment broadcasting. Although content for one-segment broadcasting is still up in the air, Japan Media Review interviewed Mobile Broadcasting Co. President Tetsuya Mizoguchi, formerly of mobile phone manufacturer Toshiba, about his future business strategies.
Japan Media Review: It seems all the attention for mobile terminal broadcasting is on one-segment broadcasting, is it not?
Tetsuya Mizoguchi: From the marketing of one-segment broadcasting, you get the impression that it's going to be everywhere. But is that really the case? Mobile phone carriers and terminal makers are racing to announce prototypes, but with broadcasting, the infrastructure is more important than the technology. Who is going to build this infrastructure, and how? At this point, I don't foresee this happening. Terrestrial digital broadcasting uses television towers on the ground to send out airwaves. These are UHF waves that have a strong, straight, linear tendency so that if there is a building in the way, they are unable to go around it and they will be blocked. For home television viewing, an antenna is placed in a high location, but for mobile telephones the antenna is merely three feet off the ground.
On the other hand, our company is a broadcasting firm that has all the software, the hardware and even the programming rights necessary for the task. Because MOBAHO sends airwaves from a satellite to the ground, 80 percent of Japan is covered. In addition, we are installing gap-fillers in the shadows of high-rise buildings and building the infrastructure in a reliable manner.
JMR: After starting your broadcast programming, your co-investors Toshiba and Sharp placed dedicated reception terminal devices on the market in November for approximately 60,000 yen and 70,000 yen (between $580 and $680), respectively. Do you believe these will appeal to the average consumer?
Mizoguchi: Initially, (these prices) are inevitable. Naturally, I think a combined device with cost/performance benefits is better. For example, I would hope that they can build a tuner into an HDD music player installed with an internal HDD or into a portable gaming unit.
JMR: You are planning to market an automobile terminal and a PC card tuner that will both be MOBAHO brands. Why?
Mizoguchi: There are over 70 million automobiles, notebook computers and mobile telephones in Japan, and the number is only growing. We see a large market here. However, it is difficult for terminal manufacturers to develop and invest in a product for a market they do not see yet. After creating the specifications for an automobile terminal, we went around asking every terminal manufacturer to develop and sell this device by the end of the year, but not one responded with an offer. So in June we amended the articles of our corporation to allow the manufacturing of reception terminals and their sale and moved forward with our own development. If we lead by demonstrating the existence of a market, I'm sure the terminal manufacturers will follow.
JMR: Certainly, the impact of being able to view television on a mobile phone will be great. Are you concerned that Korea has beat Japan to this product?
Mizoguchi: There is a particular manufacturer that has already begun the development of a terminal. However, in Japan the carriers hold the decision-making power and so it's not possible for a manufacturer to just put one on the market. They have to follow the wishes of the carriers. On the other hand, in Korea, because the broadcasting companies are the mobile phone carriers, it is only natural that a mobile phone would have a terminal. Nevertheless, with mobile phones, power usage is a large problem. We decided to wait for the development of the third-generation LSI that is power economical and that is why the schedule is for 2006. Korea uses the current second-generation type, and so their batteries are twice the size of those in Japan.
JMR: Isn't 2006 when terrestrial digital mobile TV will be launched? Won't these overlap?
Mizoguchi: I am not concerned about terrestrial digital mobile TV at all because our focuses are different. With MOBAHO, as long as you have a view toward the southern sky, whether you are on the bullet train in a window seat or in an airplane, you can watch television. The one-segment broadcasting cannot perform such feats. It is not mobile-object friendly. Furthermore, with one-segment broadcasting you can only view local programming, but with MOBAHO you can view the same programs anywhere in Japan. Initially there will probably be only mobile phones for sale with the MOBAHO terminals installed. However, eventually there will probably be mobile phones with both MOBAHO and one-segment capabilities, so they will co-exist.
© 2002-2006 Japan Media Review.
