Mobile TV Providers Is Set To Launch Their Services
Smart Communications and Dream TV are in a rat race to make Mobile TV part of every Filipinos love for mobile phones. Mobile TV is different from an earlier TV streaming services by both Smart and Globe Telecom when they were just introducing 3G to Philippine market. Mobile TV does not ride on the same spectrum used in GSM/GPRS for phone calls and text messaging.
Smart is already doing a test broadcast of it’s mobile TV service starting in key cities in Metro Manila and recently rolled out transmitters in key cities like Cebu, Cagayan De Oro, Dumaguete, Davao and Boracay, Aklan.
Mobile TV signals are delivered using DVB-H (standards for digital television) technology. One needs to have a DVB-H compatible handsets which are already available in the market a few months back (Nokia,Samsung, and Sony Ericsson). Mobile TV works just like a regular cable television with default features such as addressable box (which is the handset itself).
Dream TV is aiming to launch their Mobile TV months earlier than the target date of Smart. Dream TV also uses DVB-H for signal or content delivery to mobile phones. An Inquirer.net article provides information on pricing which includes service fee of PhP 300.00 for twelve channels (eight free and 4 pay-per-view). Dream TV, a brand of Philippine Multimedia Systems Incorporated (PMSI) which also owns Dream Satellite TV is I think a very welcome addition to the growing market of mobile content providers. This move of Dream TV will mostly benefit those who are interested in the service by providing competitive price and NOT allowing monopoly in pricing scheme by by either of the two biggest wireless carriers in the Philippines.
Sources: