LG launched a few months ago the LG HB620T, a mobile phone that includes a TV tuner for DVB-T, the most extended standard for terrestrial digital TV. Many analysts predict that this kind of phones will kill broadcast mobile TV standards such as DVB-H/SH or proprietary MediaFlo. Why do you need a standard for mobile TV when you can already have regular TV in your phone? Leaving apart that DVB-H/SH technology is fit for mobile (limited battery, processing, authentication with SIM card) the answer is because it enables Pay-TV.
One of the advantages of DVB-T is that it is already available in many countries offering a wide number of channels free-to-air. And this is good news for users and for Mobile TV too. Educating the customer to new services is always the most challenging part of new technology adoption.
Free TV on the handset is the mandatory first step for Mobile TV to take off.
Cable, IPTV and Satellite Pay-TV did not succeed well after we all had first a TV set in the living-room. For Mobile TV, DVB-T on the handsets is the best thing that can happen to get users familiar with TV on their mobile phones. Once there, it will be less disruptive for users to pay for premium channels for which DVB-H/SH and its OMA BCAST smart card or DRM profiles will be required.
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