IF RIP-OFF REPUBLIC was on your phone, would you watch the video of Eddie Hobbs lambasting the government? If you lived in Finland, you would probably watch the clips. Nokia ran the world's first mobile TV pilots in Helsinki, Finland and 41% of pilot participants indicated they would be willing to purchase mobile TV services and half thought that a fixed monthly fee of 10 euros was a reasonable price to pay.
It helps that big players offered their content: Digita, Elisa, MTV, Channel Four Finland (Nelonen), Nokia, TeliaSonera Finland and YLE jointly conducted the pilot between March and June 2005 with 500 users accessing mobile TV using the Nokia 7710 smartphone and DVB-H technology.
People who watched the videos liked the familiar and popular shows in their sitting rooms but would welcome mobile TV content that is suitable for short and occasional viewing. The most popular offerings were sports and news. Those using their mobiles in this test spent approximately 20 minutes a day watching mobile TV, although more active users watched between 30 to 40 minutes per session. Participants also watched mobile TV at different times than traditional TV peak hours.
Mobile TV was most popular while traveling on public transport. It complemented participants' main TV watching.
DVB-H technology allows television channels to be distributed effectively tomobile devices. It offers up to 55 channels.
via Finland's mobile TV project
