There were a number of sessions on 5G Broadcast at the IBC Show in Amsterdam, which can be seen on air in a local trial. It prompts the question of whether it will finally deliver on the promise of mobile television. Perhaps there are bigger questions about what constitutes mobile television and how it will be delivered, many of which are not technical.
As some may remember, there have been many attempts around the world to develop standards for mobile television, including DVB-H for handheld devices in Europe and MediaFlo in the United States. They have been promoted at trade shows like IBC never to be seen again.
The reasons for this may be many, but one is that they were simply not fit for purpose. Low resolution pictures with low frame rates were not attractive to consumers, despite the assertions of engineers that they were good enough when they were evidently inadequate.
Now, the screen in the hands of millions of users is likely to be at least as good in resolution as the large screen in their home. Users are used to viewing relatively high-quality pictures in the palm of the hands.
People are watching video on their phones extensively, but it is generally not broadcast television, by any definition. The use case for watching television on the move remains elusive. If they are filling in time while they are waiting for something else, it is as likely to be by watching YouTube or scrolling through TikTok clips. If they have more time to fill, they are more likely to want to watch something they personally choose rather than whatever is on a scheduled channel.
Then there are physical limitations to viewing for longer periods, from concerns about battery life, to the biomechanical issue of viewing on a handheld screen for any extended period of time. If someone really wants to watch something they will find a way to prop up their screen, but it is not necessarily always convenient.
Rather alarmingly, despite limited consumer research to demonstrate interest in the possibility of mobile television, there appears to be little shared understanding of why people might want it and what they would watch.
There are occasions, like major news and sporting events, when large numbers of people may wish to watch the same thing at the same time. There were trials during the Olympics in Paris, but they were only available on a couple of hundred phones issued to selected users. This reminds us of trials that we reported on nearly two decades ago.
The technology in this case is 5G Broadcast. It is not particularly new. It has been in the works for many years. Yet it is still not a standard feature in devices, despite the efforts of companies like Qualcomm. The good news is that it can be supported using currently available hardware devices. In some cases, such as phones from Chinese company Xiaomi, it simply requires a software upgrade.
So, could China mark the first mass market to adopt mobile television? It depends, it seems on the attitude of the government there.
What about Apple, which still has the majority of the mobile phone market in the United States, although Android has about two-thirds of the global market? Without support from Apple, the prospects for broadcast television to mobile phones may be limited. Unfortunately, it seems that Apple has little interest in broadcast television, preferring to promote the use of apps and associated video services.
Then there is the question of what to call it. Broadcast has its own connotations. Multicast is technically accurate but potentially confusing to consumers. Mobile television has had tainted reputation, and some uses may not actually be mobile.
Given that, are there reasons to be more positive about the prospects for 5G Broadcast? One is that it has the potential to be a global standard, which is attractive to handset manufacturers. There is also the potential to use the DVB-I standard for service discovery, aligning it with service delivery over other networks.
As more viewing on fixed screens moves from traditional transmissions to online delivery, the mobile use case for wireless distribution remains.
The key question is whether this can be fulfilled by unicast distribution of separate streams to individual users, or whether multicast delivery of the same stream to an unlimited number of users will be required to support dense areas of usage or for major events attracting a mass audience.
Another question is the role of high power, tall tower transmitters, traditionally used for television services. These could use 5G Broadcast standards to deliver signals efficiently to mobile users over large areas, complementing cellular coverage. That inevitably raises questions about spectrum usage and licensing.
One of the sticking points is that some envisage that 5G broadcast should work without a SIM or subscriber identity module, either in software or in the form of a physical card.
This appears problematic, as any useful use case is likely to require some additional form of request and response to support service and programme information and other forms of interaction, which implies the requirement for a bidirectional data network.
It also presents problems for the business case. If the service is free to use, who is going to end up paying?
Broadcasters have traditionally paid for transmission services, either by owning and operating their own infrastructure, or increasingly by outsourcing this to a transmission provider.
A possibility is that in exchange for maintaining the use of potentially valuable spectrum, broadcasters, or possibly mobile network operators, could be required to make freely available certain services of public value.
This could be attractive to governments that wish to retain a way to communicate with citizens, to keep them informed, educated, and entertained, both through services considered to be of public value and benefit, and in times of crisis.
These are all matters of public policy that seem far from the technical discussions at IBC, that at times seem remote from the realities of the market.
Meanwhile, tests and trials are continuing, with plans for 5G broadcast in five Italian cities in 2025.
However, one thing seems clear. If there is market demand, and if it is appropriately supported by legislators and regulators, the engineers should be able to deliver technology to enable mobile television, or whatever it may end up being called.