With regulators beginning to shape the overall market conditions, standardisa-tion and technical work continues around the issue of rights access
With the amount of investment currently going into handsets and netywork technology, it would be a brave person to bet against commercial mobile broadcast becoming a mass market application. It's just that no-one knows if they will make any money, and if they do, who for. But, critically next generation services, which might converge mobile broadcasting with home-based services via IPTV, or with services tailored to the needs of the automotive industry via mobile multimedia centres, are on the edge of breakthrough, according to industry body Broadcast Mobile Convergence Forum (bmcoforum), which held its plenary meeting recently.
The vision of the bmcoforum is that advanced content and services will drive the implementation of new technologies and standards. Consumer generated content and the open internet will impact mobile phones, static IPTVs and automotive-based mobile multimedia players. Advertising on mobile devices will become interactive via dedicated portals or specific TV channel or in the programme guide or while zapping. Intelligent interfaces, cognitive radios and 3D technologies will support these new application domains, the forum claims.
It's quite a vision. So how is the market moving to support it, from a regulatory and a technical point of view?
A recent study conducted by the bmcoforum analyses the status of national licensing frameworks for terrestrial mobile broadcast TV in 23 countries, among them 21 from Europe. It concludes that a significant number of countries are still lagging behind most advanced countries in defining their regulatory framework including the licensing conditions and processes.
After the service has been operative in Italy for two years, about one million users own mobile TV capable devices. Licence granting is completed in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands and Switzerland and in process in France and Hungary.
Therefore, the majority of central European countries have assigned terrestrial frequencies, established regulatory and licensing frameworks and have started or are about to launch mobile broadcast TV services in 2008.
Other countries such as Belgium, Greece, Portugal and Spain as well as the majority of Northern and East European countries have not yet decided upon licensing conditions and processes.
These processes normally take quite some time and effort requiring public consultations and law changes. bmcoforum therefore says that it sees an urgent need for these countries to speed up the decision process in order to take advantage of the present market opportunities for terrestrial mobile broadcast TV.
"As according to the European Commission, mobile broadcast TV can reach a worldwide market worth up to €20 billion by 20111, bmcoforum is urging all national regulators to allow for a fast service kick-off in their countries", said Prof. Dr. Claus Sattler, Executive Director of bmcoforum.
So there is progress on regulation, even if there is still considerable scope for increasing speed of process in several areas. But what about the industry? Does it have its technologies in place to support the multi-platform world? Take conditional access, for example. Interoperability will be crucial in this regard, within the main standards either being adopted, or likely to be adopted.
The FLO Forum recently received approval from the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) of the Forward Link Only Open Conditional Access (OpenCA) Specification.
The completion of the OpenCA Specification, published as TIA-1146, creates a standards-based environment that enables multiple vendors to implement content security systems within the FLO architecture. The OpenCA specification provides a standard interface for conditional access (CA) systems to interoperate, ensuring that FLO network operators have the flexibility to use multiple CA solutions. Through the standard interface, they can replace an entire CA system seamlessly with another system, or run multiple systems concurrently in a "Simulcrypt" setting. This provides operators with greater control to respond to changing security demands or business model requirements.
The framework also enables content providers to offer a wider choice of premium mobile content while reducing the risk of piracy, and thus helping to create a compelling end-user mobile TV experience.
Five member companies who are leaders in the global CA market were key to the success of the program, including Irdeto, Nagravision, NDS, Verimatrix and Widevine. They each contributed via the FLO Forum's Content & Services and Technical Committees, applying their extensive experience of working with the DVB Open Security Framework (OSF) to devise an equivalent solution for FLO technology.
"Content security is a fundamental requirement for paid TV services and its effectiveness in mobile TV will be under close scrutiny as the market expands," commented Charles Lo, Chair, FLO Forum Technical Committee. "Flexible, secure conditional access systems will be key not only in assuring revenues for operators, but also in encouraging content owners to offer high quality content, which in turn will drive consumer uptake."
"The opportunity to leverage standardized conditional access systems in conjunction with FLO technology was identified and driven by several FLO Forum members," said Dr. Kamil Grajski, President, FLO Forum. "These members took the initiative in adapting to FLO the DVB OSF, taking advantage of previous implementations, and quickening the introduction of OpenCA-based FLO networks in the future. The completion of the OpenCA framework highlights the FLO Forum's commitment to the global, open standardization of FLO technology, and is a testament to the dedication and support of our valued members."
According to Mark Kirstein, president and co-founder of MultiMedia Intelligence, "The standards and business models for mobile TV are still developing for network operators, broadcasters and content owners. Leveraging its success in software-based IP content security, Verimatrix is bringing a unique approach to secure the delivery of premium content that consumers are willing to pay for. VCAS for Mobile TV considers the different delivery networks and various devices that must work in concert to satisfy consumer demand and ultimately generate revenue."
To address this demand, one company, Verimatrix has recently launched VCAS for Mobile TV. Its solution is designed to take full advantage of the hybrid nature of commercial mobile video platforms, where a mobile TV broadcast network can be combined with an IP data connection via a mobile data network or local WiFi access. A hybrid mobile network not only supports cost-effective content security, but also creates a compelling platform for interactivity and video to e-commerce linkage, allowing both content owners and pay-TV operators to generate further revenue or customer interest. For example, when watching a mobile broadcast a consumer can be directed to a website for further product information, to participate in a contest, or to make a purchase.
This approach leverages standards-based support for secure broadcast, streaming and file distribution services using common VCAS server authentication and key management.
To broaden the base of devices that triple- and quadruple-play operators can support, Verimatrix includes its MultiRights component within the mobile TV solution. MultiRights addresses transparent rights management across a range of off-the-shelf devices with different native DRM support. For example, a mobile phone with Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) DRM would be authenticated to play specific content by MultiRights in parallel with VCAS-enabled clients. MultiRights dramatically underscores the Verimatrix commitment to create a transparent multi-screen experience for operators and subscribers.
Bob Kulakowski, CTO of Verimatrix says, "Pay-TV operators should rightfully expect a content security supplier to support their three screen approach with one convergent headend system, and we've been able to accomplish that with VCAS for Mobile TV. VCAS for Mobile TV, along with MultiRights, is designed to enable new opportunities rather than limit them with narrow standards or silo-type network approaches. Limits on usability, imposed by restrictive business models, typically discourage consumer adoption of new services and are therefore rarely profitable for the operator."