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DAILY NEWS
Apr 20, 2006 1:24 PM
UBS, Look Launch Live Mobile TV Demo
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Unique Broadband Systems, Inc and its 51%-owned subsidiary, Look Communications have successfully made Milton, Ontario the first mobile broadcast town in Canada.
Look has launched demonstration sites for mobile TV in and around its broadcast centre in Milton, it described. Look's Mobile Multi Media (M3) van offers live TV to four separate personalized screens permitting each passenger to individualize their viewing of live video and to listen to audio channels.
Look and UBS (The Companies) say that Look's Mobile TV, as viewed on its demonstration sites, is a major improvement over the streamed, slow-framed TV
currently offered by cellular carriers in Canada.
"Cellular phone TVs are not receiving or providing 'at home' TV-quality video since their networks were not designed for broadcasting. The cellular networks are one-to-one, unicast networks with limited capacity for quality mobile TV," said Gerald McGoey, Vice Chairman and CEO of Look and Chairman and CEO of UBS. "Look Mobile TV will have the advantage of a live broadcast network, with content and programs available to Look, which is presently broadcasting over 100 video channels under its broadcast license."
The Companies expect that the M3 network will consist of two networks - a broadcast network and a broadband network. They further expect that the
broadcast network will allow for the mass distribution of content, information and entertainment regardless of how many customers are receiving and listening. In their view, the M3 network is likely to ultimately provide
two-way access to the Internet and applications such as VoIP and webcasting.
Look's new Mobile TV is expected to be the first application for Look's M3 experience and may be followed with mobile broadband - bringing
customers what they want, when they want it and where they want it - in their hand - "personalized". In this regard, handsets are currently being developed by a number of major companies and are expected to encompass a variety of personal devices.
While Look can offer Mobile TV under its existing license, in order to provide mobile broadband, it and other incumbents of the spectrum band, would
have to apply to Industry Canada for authorization to provide such services, the granting of which would be subject to a reorganization of the 2500-2690
MHz spectrum band and the return to Industry Canada of approximately 33% of Look's current spectrum. This process has already been approved by Industry
Canada in a recent policy statement.
The Companies, with their unique combination of a broadcast license, approximately 100 MHz of spectrum, and DVB-H knowledge and understanding,
believe that they are well positioned to offer M3, currently in a moving vehicle and eventually in the customer's hand, provided that, among other
things, the required funding is obtained.
Look's services and network are expected to be device agnostic. Focus groups have indicated that they would like to have a separate M3 device and
not necessarily only their cellular phone. Customers will be able to choose whether they would like to receive mobile TV on their phone, laptop, computer,
personal video recorder or other devices currently under development.
The Companies also wish to offer their opinion on the future development of Mobile Multi Media and its potential impact on the broadcast and
communications industry.
In the view of the Companies, live mobile TV services in the United States, and even more so in Canada, are far behind those currently provided in
Korea and parts of Europe. The Companies believe that cellular operators throughout Europe and the United States are realizing that their cellular
networks are incapable of providing real-time mobile TV and that their infrastructure is unprepared for mass-market delivery of video over the
Internet on their networks. In the opinion of The Companies, the cellular providers' switched networks, as well as their limited access to spectrum, are problematic when attempting to deliver mobile TV with quality equivalent to
the customer's at-home experience.
The Companies believe that Canadian customers have demonstrated that they are willing to pay for mobility and personalization and are unlikely to
tolerate poor quality service or content.
Mobile TV networks are being built in the United States by organizations such as Crown Castle, with its Modeo services, and Qualcomm. The Companies
believe that technology is not the issue, and that the real issues remain content, the ability to broadcast and the necessary spectrum to provide Mobile Multi Media.
The Companies further believe that the introduction of M3 to the Canadian broadcast and communications industry could have a significant impact on the
industry and the historic business relationships among content providers, broadcasters, wireless carriers and advertisers. "Until now, mobility has
largely been seen as something available only through cellular providers. We believe this could soon change," Mr. McGoey said.
The Companies believe that M3 and live Mobile TV in particular, will be of significant value to customers. The Companies expect that the customer is
likely to watch/receive TV, audio, information or entertainment whenever, wherever and however they want.
A number of content providers, including television networks, search engines and others, can currently reach the consumer's mobile device. Because
of this, The Companies, believe advertisers could target both the content providers and the viewer or listener. The Companies believe that advertisers
could even reward viewers or listeners with free or low-cost services so that advertisers can establish a direct, one-to-one relationship with the customer,
rather than the conventional advertising model of one-to-many, where networks receive the advertising dollars.
In the view of The Companies, "massive passives", as TV viewers are referred to in a recent IBM report, are changing into the "active mobile" customers that advertisers want. The Companies believe that Mobile Multi Media has the potential to introduce new players to the industry, to deal both directly and interactively with audiences. Mobile Multi Media can provide print media, such as the publishers of directories, with a real-time, personalized, mobile, interactive, ever-changing data bank, rather than the
current printing of a book once per year.
"We may well be at the dawn of a new era in which broadcasters, cellular service providers, content providers and Mobile Multi Media network providers
should all develop new business models," Mr. McGoey said. "We are very excited to be part of this transformation taking place in these industries and we look forward to further developing our M3 network."
