Television goes wireless in May

The government allocated six licenses for land-based mobile television services that are expected to go live in May, with the country`s three major television stations allowed to extend programs to handsets.



However, policymakers failed to reach a decision on whether to allow land-based television programs to air on satellite-based digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) services, a separate mobile television standard backed by SK Telecom Co.



The Korean Broadcasting Commission, the country`s broadcasting regulator, announced the results of the licensing competition for the upcoming land-based mobile television services.



The country`s three major land-based television stations - KBS, MBC and SBS - secured spots for the nascent market. That excluded the fourth-largest broadcaster, EBS, out of the picture. Three remaining licenses, saved for non-terrstrial broadcasters, were allocated to consortiums led by cable news broadcaster YTN, radio braodaster CBS and a group led by electronics equipment makers PSK Tech Inc., Homecast Co. and digital content developer Sigong Tech Co.



The television stations have given themselves a May deadline for brining television to mobile handsets in Seoul and other neighboring cities. The non-terrestrial broadcasters expect to start commercial services during the second-half of the year.



The television stations will be required to share their transmission infrastructure with other service providers for the mobile television services, allowing the smaller companies to reduce costs and expand coverage.



"Following final confirmation by the Ministry of Information and Communication on the licensing, the television stations will be able to start commercial services during the first-half of the year. We believe the consortiums by the non-terrestrial broadcasters will be able to start commercial services during the second half, after they incorporate themselves as a television broadcaster," said Lee Hyo-sung, vice chairman of the Korean Broadcasting Commission, who led the licensing process.



"To facilitate the growth of the early market, we will encourage service providers to enlarge their partnerships with other companies and have more players involved in the new business. We believe there will be a large role for EBS as a content provider," he said.



Mobile television services, dubbed by Korean officials as digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB), are designed to beam digital television, audio and data broadcasts to handheld devices via satellite or land-based television airwaves.



According to a report by the state-run Electronics and Telecom-munications Research Institute, mobile television services will generate 14.7 trillion won in services and equipment production ($14.2 billion) through 2010 while creating about 160,000 jobs annually during the same period.



The institute expects 400,000 customers for the land-based mobile television services and 210,000 customers for the satellite-based services this year. Land-based services will grow by 191 percent annually and will have 10.3 million customers by 2010, while customers for the satellite-based services will amount to 4.3 million during the same period.



The government allocated a license for satellite-based mobile television services to TU Media Corp., which is 30 percent owned by mobile-phone operator SK Telecom Co., in December last year. TU Media, currently running trial operations, hopes to begin commercial services in May and plans to provide 14 video and 24 audio channels to customers for a monthly fixed rate of 13,000 won ($12.6). The company will take around 25 percent of the service fees its shares with the country`s three mobile-phone operators SK Telecom, KT Freetel Co. and LG Telecom Ltd.



TU Media`s initiatives toward satellite-based mobile television suffered a setback in October last year when the Korean Broadcasting Commission decided not to allow the retransmission of land-based television broadcasts on the company`s satellite network. This keeps TU Media from providing programs from the country`s four major television stations - KBS, MBC, SBS and EBS - to customers.



The broadcasting regulator left open the possibilities of reversing directions, saying it will reconsider the satellite retransmission issue after completing licensing for land-based mobile television services. However, Lee said the commission hasn`t confirmed their stance on the issue yet



"Regarding the satellite retransmission issue, we expect to reach a final agreement early next month," said Lee.



Industry watchers, including the state-run Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, expect land-based mobile television services to have a larger audience than its rival standard, with its clear advantage in content and the fact that customers access the services for free. The Korean broadcasting law bans television stations for charging customers for accessing land-based broadcast signals.



However, finding a revenue model for mobile-phone operators in land-based mobile television is proving to be a difficult challenge. Mobil-phone operators KTF and LG Telecom have been demanding the government to allow them to charge customers for land-based mobile television services, to cover their investment in marketing and building additional transmission facilities.



Industry watchers believe satellite-based mobile television to penetrate building-saturated streets and underground tunnels better than the land-based services, with TU Media already having installed more than 5,000 gap-fillers nationwide to cover blanket area. The company said it will invest an additional 700 billion this year to upgrade their transmission infrastructure.



According officials at LG Telecom, the country`s smallest mobile-phone carrier, mobile-phone operators will need to invest at least 60 billion won in building transmission facilities to match the level of coverage.



By Kim Tong-hyung



(thkim@heraldm.com)