IDC: It's Not Broadband Or Broadcast

The Open Mobile Video Coalition today released a white paper prepared by IDC called "Assessing the Mobile DTV Opportunity and Its Role in the United States' Communication Ecosystem." TVNewsCheck provides excerpts from the paper's executive summary.

Mobile DTV is a cultural and technical extension of digital over-the-air (OTA) broadcasting and is a spectrum-efficient technology to deliver hugely popular content. But more than this, Mobile DTV allows consumers to also receive local channels, programming, and advertising, as well as relevant local and national news, emergency information, weather, and other alerts. Like OTA broadcasting, mobile DTV makes possible a one-to-many broadcast that instantaneously can reach millions of viewers.

The era of mobile video services has arrived, and live mobile TV is a core component of a compelling video service offering for consumers. Mobile DTV broadcasts have begun for an estimated 45 stations today, and approximately 150 stations are expected to be on air by the end of 2010. Within three years, it is feasible that several hundred stations will broadcast mobile DTV, reaching upwards of 100 or more markets.

In these early days, IDC expects broadcasters to deliver ad-supported free OTA access to drive OEM and retailer support and educate consumers about the feature. Longer term, IDC believes increased mobile video offerings across various portable device categories will drive new monetization for broadcasters, advertisers, and potentially OEMs and carriers.

It should not be a question of broadcast or broadband. Both are critical communications technologies that serve a distinct purpose and work better when they are coupled together. Mobile DTV is truly a complementary service to streamed and on-demand services because it can efficiently deliver services and live content that are hugely popular and/or highly localized to consumers, while two-way networks can be integrated onto the same device to offer more personalized experiences and content.