Mobile TV excites

The findings of two consumer trials into mobile television and radio, organised by telecoms players BT, o2 and Virgin and digital broadcast specialist Arqiva, come as a welcome vindication to the legion of UK firms seeking to capitalise on the market. This may be a sign of lucrative times ahead, as technology consultancy Strategy Analytics envisages that in three years’ time there will be around 50 million users of mobile TV, creating revenues of approximately £3.5 billion for the businesses involved. The consultancy further forewarns average revenues per mobile subscriber are forecast to fall two percent in 2006, meaning these areas may see expansion from the networks at an even faster rate.

Mobile phone leviathan Nokia and TV producer Endemol, maker of the Big Brother series, are both big backers of the concept, with the latter having already sold TV clips of the reality show to thousands of its digital mobile customers.

One recent trial in Oxford, by o2 and Arqiva, found that around 80 per cent of people would sign up to a commercial mobile TV service and that 70 per cent would like digital radio channels included in such a service. The other trial, conducted by BT’s Movio division and Virgin Mobile, found radio had the stronger appeal than TV and is ready for commercial launch this year. Ian Dickens, the chief executive of the Digital Radio Development Bureau, advised that ‘listenership to digital radio services is certain to grow exponentially once it becomes commercially available on mobile phones.'

This is good news for a number of other AIM-listed ventures, particularly UBC Media, a supplier of radio content and digital services, which is the second largest owner, after BT, of digital broadcasting spectrum in the UK. Others who will be buoyed by developments with networks include specialist 3G video service provider All New Video, which recently signed a partnership agreement with another interested party, interactive content and services provider YooMedia, to provide interactive mobile content.