Big Brother goes mobile with 3G

Rather

than 3G leading the way, all the major mobile phone operators are
trialing new DVDH (digital video on demand - handheld) systems, which
look set to be launched in time for next year's World Cup.

"There
are major issues with showing television on the 3G network, not least
of which is the bandwidth problem," said Thomas Husson, a mobile
analyst with Jupiter Research.

"Showing TV uses a huge amount of
bandwidth which they can do at the moment because not that many
customers have signed up to 3G, but in the future it would pose a big
problem.

"It's also very expensive. I think they are doing this
to show off what the phones are capable of, but it's not the future of
mobile TV we're looking at."

However, the fact that Orange has
launched the services, with the likes of 3, Vodafone and O2 also
spending fortunes testing mobile TV devices, has convinced many that
2005 could be the year 3G and mobile in general really kick in as an
audio-visual entertainment and branding vehicle – and not simply a
platform for established mobile services such as SMS.

Orange TV
includes content from nine broadcasting channels, such as ITN News, CNN
and Cartoon Network, as well as dedicated Big Brother and Celebrity
Love Island channels.

Alexis Dormandy, chief marketing officer
for Orange, said: "This signals the start of a huge new opportunity for
our customers, broadcasters, handset manufacturers and production
companies."

Husson said the arrival of DVDH – and other technological breakthroughs foreseeable – would prove to be more significant.

O2 is among those exploring such a service, along with cable company NTL, as well as Vodafone and T-Mobile.

Husson
said: "It's probably not going to be mass market for another couple of
years, but already I think it offers, rather than a threat, a real
opportunity for broadcasters to extend their range of services and
their reach."

Powerful branding device 

Although most trials of
mobile television have focused on programming, rather than advertising,
analysts believe that 3G and future generation phones will eventually
open up massive new opportunity for marketers.

The Hutchison
3G-owned operator, 3, last week launched through a tie-up with Flytxt
the first advert on its service, a downloadable trailer for the movie,
It's all Gone Pete Tong.

Julian Smith, mobile marketing analysts
at Jupiter, said: "We are now seeing 3G services take off and many
people are predicting that Christmas 2005 will be a 3G Christmas.

"Broadcasters
are beginning to wake up to the potential of audio-visual content, over
the internet and now over 3G as well, and there will be great
opportunities for it to become a powerful branding device for
advertisers.

"Initially these are likely to be the sort of young,
go getting companies that reflect the early adopters of the phones
themselves, the likes of Nike, Reebok and also some of the automotive
clients, but I'm sure others will follow".