SAN DIEGO-Qualcomm Inc. offered industry an early look at its MediaFLO mobile TV technology in conjunction with its BREW developer’s conference here. The demonstration showed MediaFLO can transmit streaming video, but also revealed the technology isn’t as polished as rival offerings like DVB-H and DMB.
Qualcomm is one of a number of companies planning mobile TV services. The company’s MediaFLO technology broadcasts audio and video content to phones that have MediaFLO receivers. Qualcomm owns spectrum in the 700 MHz band and is planning to build a network dedicated to broadcasting TV content to mobile phones in the United States. Tower company Crown Castle is planning a similar offering working on the DVB-H standard, and TU Media in South Korea recently launched commercial services working on the DMB standard.
Such offerings are intended to supplement video services available through current wireless networks like CDMA and GSM-thereby reducing strain on the networks.
Qualcomm’s MediaFLO demonstration covered a small table. The system included a computer that contained pre-recorded video from several TV channels including CNN Headline News and E! Entertainment. The channels were broadcast through a small MediaFLO antenna sitting next to a MediaFLO receiver. The receiver was hooked up to phone development platform, which is essentially a briefcase-sized plate covered with the innards of a mobile phone. A development platform allows handset makers to test individual phone components-like screens or chips-before installing them in working phone models. Qualcomm’s phone development platform ran on the company’s MSM 6550 chipset and displayed TV broadcasts on a QVGA mobile-phone screen attached to one end of the development plate.
The demonstration supported video streams of about 15 frames per second-about half the frame rate of standard TV broadcasts. Qualcomm said its commercial MediaFLO service will support 30 frames per second. Although readily viewable during still shots, the video in the demonstration became garbled when the camera panned or images moved quickly across the screen. The video quality was better than that of the MobiTV application running on a Sprint handset, but was slightly worse than Verizon Wireless’ new Vcast video download service.
A recent demonstration from Crown Castle showed the company is further along in its development of mobile TV. Crown Castle’s system featured broadcasts relayed from its recently launched satellite system as well as working prototype DVB-H handsets. The video was as good, if not better than, Verizon’s Vcast service.
Jeffrey Lorbeck, senior vice president and general manager of Qualcomm’s MediaFLO effort, said the company will have commercial mobile TV services available by the fourth quarter of next year. Lorbeck declined to provide much detail on Qualcomm’s plans, however, including how many cities it would cover by the end of next year or how many handsets would be available. Lorbeck said the company is planning to launch a commercial test of MediaFLO in the first half of next year. Crown Castle is planning a commercial trial sometime this summer, with a commercial launch next year.
Qualcomm is selling MediaFLO on a wholesale basis to wireless carriers in the United States. The company plans to offer the system to carriers, which can then rebrand it and sell it at a higher price to end users.
Along with the demonstration, Lorbeck outlined Qualcomm’s plans for the technology. He said MediaFLO could support 20 channels of live TV content and 10 channels of music. He said the MediaFLO system could also support up to 50 “clip-cast” channels. Lorbeck said clip-cast channels would feature short video clips that would be updated throughout each day. The clips would be cached inside MediaFLO handsets, allowing users to instantly view, pause and rewind each clip. When new clips become available, MediaFLO handsets automatically would update their cache with the latest clip.
Further, MediaFLO could also support what Lorbeck called Internet Protocol datacasting, which essentially uses the MediaFLO network to send short bursts of data to handsets. The data could be used to update phones’ main screens with information like weather forecasts or sports scores.
Finally, Lorbeck said MediaFLO could work alongside a carrier’s current video offerings, such as Sprint’s TV service or Verizon’s Vcast offering. He said Qualcomm has developed a BREW application that looks like a TV Guide menu. The application allows users to click to view whatever content they wish, be it a Vcast video running over the carrier’s EV-DO network or a TV channel available through MediaFLO.
“It’s really up to them (wireless carriers),” Lorbeck said. “The possibilities are so rich.”
Lorbeck said Qualcomm is in discussions with a number of content providers for MediaFLO channels. The company’s MediaFLO demonstration included brands such as A&E, the Food Network, Nascar.com, iFilm and others.
Although Qualcomm has not yet announced MediaFLO customers, some have indicated interest in the technology.
“We think it’s a terrific media environment,” said Manish Jha, senior vice president of mobile virtual network operator ESPN Mobile. The company is in trials with MediaFLO.
“We think MediaFLO is very interesting,” said John Stratton, vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless, adding that wireless users have been keen to use the carrier’s newly launched Vcast video service.
