Free-to-Air Mobile TV FAQ

Q. What is free-to-air mobile TV?

A. Free-to-air mobile TV provides consumers with mobile access to the free, live programming that they already view and enjoy on their television sets at home. Free-to-air mobile TV leverages an existing broadcast ecosystem that includes mature, global standards, spectrum that is already allocated, existing tower infrastructure, and familiar content. Free-to-air mobile TV is delivered via broadcast terrestrial signals such as NTSC, PAL and SECAM analog standards and regionally deployed digital standards such as DVB-T.

Q. Why is free-to-air mobile TV important?

A. Free-to-air mobile TV accelerates consumer adoption of mobile television and is critical to its long-term success. Consumers, while interested in a mobile TV feature, have balked at subscription fees for unfamiliar, made-for-mobile content. Free-to-air mobile TV provides consumers with mobile access to familiar television content, an important first step in driving widespread consumer adoption of mobile television. Once consumers are accustomed to watching TV on their handsets, it is more likely that they will be receptive to paying for premium content.

Q. How big is the market for free-to-air mobile TV?

A. Analyst firm In-Stat estimates a total of 193 million free-to-air mobile TV viewers in 2009, with analog (118 million viewers) outpacing digital (75 million viewers). In-Stat expects analog mobile TV viewers to continue to grow to 244 million in 2012. (In-Stat, April 08) Free-to-air mobile TV consists of analog broadcast standards such as NTSC, PAL and SECAM, and digital broadcast standards such as ISDB-T, T-DMB and DVB-T.

Q. Why is free-to-air mobile TV growing faster than other mobile TV technologies?

A. Free-to-air mobile TV is experiencing rapid adoption because it delivers live, free and familiar content to the consumer. At the close of 2007, Telegent has shipped five million mobile TV receivers, within nine months from its first volume production shipment. This is significantly faster consumer adoption than the industry is experiencing for subscription-based services providing made-for-mobile content.

Q. What is required to deliver free-to-air mobile TV?

A. Manufacturers can simply add a single chip to their handsets and other mobile products to let consumers access the existing free-to-air broadcast ecosystem. Operators do not need to invest the time, resources, and money required to build out a broadcast infrastructure based on new standards.

Q. What is the impact of some countries' proposed analog shutoffs?

A. Only 12% of the global population will be affected by analog shutoffs by the year 2012. At Telegent, we believe it is critical to support the global market with standards such as NTSC, PAL and SECAM while also delivering solutions for emerging digital standards. Telegent also provides hybrid chips capable of supporting both analog and digital standards to provide consumers with a transition path.

Q. How does free-to-air mobile TV benefit operators?

A. Free-to-air mobile TV is an offering that operators can use immediately to differentiate their services, attract subscribers, reduce subsidies and drive incremental revenue with zero investment required. It does not displace but is rather complementary to existing mobile TV strategies. By providing consumers with access to free-to-air content, operators can draw consumers to their network and then use free-to-air mobile TV as a platform to drive new revenue. Examples include increased use of data network services such as SMS, targeted advertising and up-sell of premium content.

Q. Why hasn't this been done before?

A. Telegent has achieved a technology breakthrough that allows it to deliver the type of picture quality, battery life, and high-speed mobility required to provide a high quality of experience to the consumer, all on a single chip, for both free-to-air and digital standards. Telegent's technology is now embedded in more than 50 handset models, available throughout Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and is experiencing very rapid adoption.