Television on a handheld receiver - broadcasting with DVB-H

Over the last ten years digital technology has encouraged a rapid growth in the personal consumption of media. The advent of personal video recorders (PVRs), video-on-demand and the multiplication of programme offerings have enabled viewers to personalise the content that they want to watch. And with interactivity, viewers can directly express their preferences to broadcasters.

As part of this trend, and alongside the growth of mobile telephony, new technologies have been developed that enable viewers to watch streamed television-like services on their mobile telephone. The place of viewing is no longer limited to the television receiver at home, or in a vehicle, but is widened to allow personalised viewing of television by individuals wherever they are located.

This guided overview from Turkish developer Mobilsoft
(http://www.mobilsoft.com.tr)shows the capability of Digiturk's email and messaging service.

Special features include the ability to send and receive TV "Greeting Cards" and view file attachments in BMP, JPEG and GIF formats.

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Dropping its original enhanced TV portal, Disney Channel UK has re-launched its interactivity with a new ETV service, this time created for Sky's WTVML browser, developed by Sky Interactive and supported by a comprehensive management and scheduling system from Tamblin.

According to Disney the new application is a major step forward from their previous solution and offers Disney a greater deal of flexibility and control of their interactivity in terms of design and dynamic update.

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In May 2002, Disney Channel embarked on a mammoth search for a group of talented youngsters who would form a pop group to record a single, shoot a video and finally perform to 10,000 fans at the London Arena as well as millions of TV viewers during the 2002 Disney Channel Kids Awards.

To have a chance of being in the group, 5,000 hopefulls attended 5 workshops around England, Scotland and Wales.

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Nickelodeon UK has taken a highly simple approach to interactivity running this voting application during the UK half term school holidays. Watch your own week allows the viewers to choose the next programme to air on the channel - and offers multiple methods including telephone, SMS and now interactive TV.

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This is one of the fastest loading and most comprehensive iTV weather services we have seen.

It doesn't have such a clean design as for instance the TPS Meteo service has. However the navigation of the service is very fluid. Interestingly, unlike a number of other OpenTV platforms, Digiturk doesn't have colour keys and so the user must navigate using up,down,left,right, OK and Back keys only!

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UK Survey Shows 91% Happy With the Quality of Home Internet Services

October 17, 2006 - A high proportion of internet households in the UK are satisfied with most major aspects of the service they receive, according to the latest analysis from Broadband Consumer Survey 2 (CS2) of Point Topic’s BroadBand User Service.

This promo which is stripped across the BBC channels shows the additional interactive services available during Wimbledon 2002 to all digital homes, not just the ones receiving Sky Digital.

Well, when I say all, all except NTL who seem to be dragging their heals when it comes to any kind of interactivity linked to a TV programme, regardless of whether it is full enhanced TV or not!

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Mobile TV Broadcasting - Nokia Brochure

Mobile phones, mp3 players, PDAs... today these are standard equipment for busy people. And they’re about to be joined by a new ‘must-have’ device that will change the way people think about entertainment, communication and information: Mobile TV.

This service, using broadly the same interface as the Canal Satellite France SMS service allows viewers to ask questions during the live daily transmission of C Dans L'air on France 5. This application is currently exclusively available to Canal Satellite subscribers. When the viewer opts to send a message - a virtual keyboard and text box appear. On choosing the validate option - the message is then sent via the STB modem.

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Pop Idol illustrates how easily the core programming of the UK's main commercial broadcaster, ITV, can lend itself to interactivity.

Despite supporting the Pop Idol programme with a simple and fast-loading application that enables viewers to gossip around the show and participate in the vote on Saturday nights, ITV’s execution of the application does seem to lack something in terms of its creativity and design.

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BBCi have taken a truly multi-platform approach with their new show Fame Academy.

The show is supported by round-the-clock news updates, highlights packages, profiles and pictures available across all three digital interactive TV platforms, the internet, broadband, SMS, WAP and PDA.

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In sharp contrast to the simple voting application of Nickelodeon (which has a limited lifespan of a couple of weeks) the Studio Disney application is an all singing, all dancing mix of voting, competitions and content presented as a full screen application - with the video resized to 1/4 screen. Perhaps rather worrying for parents -the cost of voting or entering a competition can range from 25 - 50 UK pence - and there are 3 opportunities to dial in using this application. A figure that could add up quite considerably on a daily basis.

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These services follow an almost similar content and design approach as Lagardere's services in the French market. (see below) and indeed some such as Elle Cocina are virtually identical in terms of design, content and navigation.

All services are accessed via a portal on the DirecTV LA STB.

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Mobile Broadband to Become a Standard Feature in Notebook Computers

October 16, 200 - High-speed mobile broadband connectivity, powered by HSDPA, will soon become a standard feature of notebook PCs following the publication of guidelines, developed by a GSM Association-led initiative, that prescribe a common approach for PC manufacturers to fully integrate 3G functionality in their product ranges.

Several months down the line, Sky's Lil' Red Button Man is still being stripped across Sky's channels during the advertising breaks in a bid to get viewers to use the interactive services on the Sky platform.

It would be interesting to see what, if any increase in uptake of these services has been since the campaign launched and if any peaks can be seen in modem connections following the promos airing.

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From Defense Mechanism to Revenue Generator: Can IPTV be Profitable?

Learnings and Experiences from Global IPTV Operators

DVB-H — the emerging standard for mobile data communication ARTICLE

DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting – Handheld) is the new digital broadcast standard for the transmission of broadcast content to handheld terminal devices, developed by the international DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) Project and recently published by ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute).

This is one of the WML or WapTV "Microbrowser" based services on the Sky Platform.

Choosing the Ringtones & Logos service takes the viewer away from the video for a few short moments to retreive the data (from another transponder!) and then returns to the video so the viewer can continue to watch their favourite programming.

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Magician and performance artist David Blaine's latest challenge 'David Blaine: Above the Below' is being featured on Sky digital as a 24/7 interactive service.

The stunt involves Blaine spending more than 6 weeks in solitary confinement in a clear-plexi glass box supsended above the River Thames surviving on just water alone.
The glass box is just seven feet deep, seven feet long and three feet wide, where he aims to remain for 44 days. He will have no food, no communication and no distractions of any kind. He will have to exist with a tube feeding him water and a waste tube to urinate.

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BBC's IQ show "Test The Nation" was broadcast live on Saturday May 11th, 2002.

On the night of the test, 9.1 million viewers watched Anne Robinson and Phillip Schofield put six studio groups through their paces. Viewers could also interact with the show and obtain their own score via digital satellite, digital cable or via the web.

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Formats, formats, formats!

Its Loft Story, Popstars & Big Brother all rolled into one! Canal Satellite viewers in France can follow the lives of a group of prospective stars who are living their lives 24 hours a day in front of the camera all for just 70 French Francs (approx $10) which covers the 3 months the transmissions will run on channel 89.

The voting application is provided using IDP's RegieLine.

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Wednesday 17th April 2002 saw the launch of the UK Government's UK Online service over Sky Digital with its own dedicated space on the interactive menu.

Currently UK iTV agency Channelbay are responsible for the hosting of the service, Editorial is managed directly by UK online through Channelbay's "Loadingbay" product.

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Verizon Wireless Launches Broadband Network Services In Laredo, Texas

October 13, 2006 - Verizon Wireless has announced that it has launched its wireless broadband network in Laredo, Texas.

'Lil' Red Button Man' has been jointly developed in house by Sky's creative agency and the world-famous animation creators Uli Meyer studios - who have Roger Rabbit and Space Jam to their credit. Lil' Red is an amalgamation of great British rock icons from the last thirty years.

In the first of a series of on-air executions Lil' Red struts around to music composed by Goldbug, who had chart topping hits in the early nineties. Wearing a 'Touch Me' t-shirt, Lil' Red incites Sky digital viewers to press the red button on their remote control, when watching a Sky channel - demonstrating that interactive TV is a fun and easy to use addition to the viewing experience.

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ipTV News Analyst

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IP Broadcasting to handheld devices based on DVB-T  - DVB WHITEPAPER

DVB-H is the latest development from the DVB Project targeting handheld, battery powered devices such as mobile telephones and PDAs.

In France, Canal Satellite & Vizzavi's SMS service uses a virtual keyboard which appears on screen.

With its RegieLine software, IDP has integrated the application and developed the back-office tools that ensures the transfer of the message to the Vizzavi platform. This in turn automatically forwards the message to the receiver’s mobile telephone. IDP's virtual keyboard, which will now be the standard keyboard for all Canal Satellite applications created using RegieLine.

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