Where will you watch the Euro 2008?

Thomas Husson | June 06, 2008, 04:23 PM

on such a screen?

I was ironic about it 2 years ago at the time of the World Cup.

Tomorrow, the European football cup will start and last until the end of June. Several operators will try to leverage the event to launch DVB-H. This is the case for Swisscom and 3 Austria: see here

Beyond Austria and Switzerland, KPN (the leading Dutch operator) started broadcasting 10 mobile TV channels this week, available for 10 euros a month. Only 2 handsets are available at launch: LG KB620 and the Samsung P960 (499 euros).

This reinforces my thinking that current commercial launches suffer from a limited range of devices in terms of brand, price, and form factor.

Sports events are good marketing catalysts to raise awareness rather than use. Indeed, they are social events you want to share on a large screen. I would be personally very very disappointed if I had no other choices but to watch France-Italy on my mobile phone...However, I see the benefits to be alerted via SMS when a goal is scored or to watch short videos of the goals.

What if live TV was simply a way to up-sell and cross-sell time-shifting and place-shifting concepts that seem more relevant on the move?

There is clearly a need for well-known channels and programmes to educate the market. This is the reason why French audiovisual regulator CSA has awarded DVB-H personal mobile TV broadcast licences to 11 existing channels and only to 2 new entrants: France Telecom’s Orange Sports and film director Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp TV. I have few doubts the latter will be the most creative one and that it will fit well to the small screen with short formats that meet the need of an early adopter audience.

If you want to know more about this topic, see here our latest report: "Mobile Video and Live TV: Defining the Right Balance Between Two Complementary Offerings".