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Television at your fingertips
| Date: |
04 June 2006 12:00 |
| Producer: |
Victoria Cullinan
Carol Albertyn Christie
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| Show: | Carte Blanche |
When the World Cup started in 1930, phones were a luxury, Scotch tape had just been invented and frozen food was patented.
Two years after Italy beat Hungary in 1938, the ballpoint pen was invented and the colour television.
76 years after the World Cup started, the telephone and television have converged. Next week, a few South Africans will be able to watch all of the drama of the 2006 World Cup soccer any time, anywhere.
Linda Vermaas (M-Mobile CEO): 'It's television, true television, on a mobile device.'
It's called Digital Video Broadcast Handheld, or DVB-H. Linda Vermaas is the CEO of M. Mobile, the company that is about to launch this new technology.
Derek Watts (Carte Blanche presenter): 'So where in the world is this technology available commercially? Well, the short answer is, nowhere. But the race is on and South Africa is right up there with the leaders.'
Linda: 'We are so close to being the first in the world, Derek. There is an international race to see who can launch DVB-H first because it is such an exciting new technology. So we are up against some of the super powers - Germany, Italy, the USA, Finland. But we are certainly... as South Africa, we are amongst the top.'
Dr Kelvin Kemm is a nuclear scientist, but is also an expert in the technology of the broadcast world.
Dr Kelvin Kemm (Nuclear Scientist): 'South Africa is often at the cutting edge. What happens is that we don't tell anybody about it. This time, with the soccer coming up and so on, there is a lot of attention. And of course, the big money with the soccer is the international TV broadcaster, not the tickets at the gates. So we will not only get the stature if we come out the world's first -which we have a good chance of doing, but of course we will also get the money if we are able to do all this fantastic broadcasting all over the world in multiple languages and so on, and so on.'
Astrid Ascar is the general manager of content on the M. Mobile team and says the potential subscriber base is enormous.
Astrid Ascar (GM M-Mobile): 'The predictions are in fact, by 2007 a hundred and fifty million people around the world will be accessing some sort of mobile broadcast television service.'
Sepp Blatter (FIFA president): 'The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be organised in South Africa.'
Part of the FIFA's requirements were that South Africa would have to be technologically capable in the digital field in order to host the 2010 World Cup.
While some had the luxury of celebrating, South Africa's broadcast and cell phone industry started the race to become fully digital.
Nolo Letele, Multichoice's CEO says that they have spent hundreds of millions of rands upgrading.
Nolo Letele (CEO Multichoice): 'There are three key technologies that will have to be operating in 2010. They are: High Definition Television, Broadband... and Broadband, not just high speed Internet, but Broadband television as well - as well as DVB-H. And we will be ready with all three of those in the industry players: the mobile operators, all the three - the likes of the SABC, Sentech have all come together and ourselves of course - and collaborated to actually start these trials on this new technology.'
Derek: 'The difference between the package TV we can already get on our cell phones using 3G, and this new technology is that, with Mobile TV you are getting digital quality live broadcast on a choice of channels like Supersport 1.'
These cell phones have normal functionality - calls, SMS, MMS, Internet. The only difference is that the television signal is not sent on the GSM network.
So how do they work?
Overseas channels like the BBC and CNN are beamed down from satellites to the satellite dishes and then into the control rooms at Multichoice. The DVB-H or mobile phone signal is then transmitted up through a special digital transmitter to your cell phone. Unlike analogue, there is no download time... it is [all] instantaneous.
Kelvin: 'Analogue is a wiggly signal. I have got a piece of wire here... it looks something like this. An analogue signal goes up and down the high notes and the low notes and so on. So you get a fixed bandwidth. It is like having a pipe where the size of the pipe is fixed and within that there is limited....'
Derek: 'It all gets squashed in there?'
Kelvin: 'Right. So if you are taking your analogue signal, this is what happens... your analogue signal goes through your pipe. But if you do this and take your signal and do this [wraps it around another smaller pipe], this is digital. You are compressing all your information into another format. Now you've got your piece of bandwidth and take your digital signal and it goes through really easily. And what is more, you can wrap a number around together.'
Too much demand for information from subscribers on the 3G or analogue system and the quality suffers.
Which means lots of information can be sent out at once, making it cheaper, faster and much better quality.
Derek: 'Some might say that this is another fad, a techno gimmick for trendy adults and spoilt kids. But many experts are predicting that, like the microwave that changed the way we cook, this could change the way we watch television... a sort of snack TV.'
Kelvin: 'Look at cell phones... In the beginning, cell phones were supposedly only for the top executives; now everybody with their bicycles are riding down the road with a cell phone.'
Gail Curtis is CEO of Saatchi's International Advertising Agency and believes that DVB-H or Mobile TV will change the way we interact with media.
Gail Curtis (CEO Saatchi): 'This is a huge attraction for people ... to be able to be on the move, to get sight, sound and motion when they are moving, when they are in different places.'
Astrid: 'When there is a breaking news story. We all know how we responded on 9/11; we all know how we responded and got phone calls when there were the bomb blasts in London...'
Derek: 'The tsunami as well...'
Astrid: 'The tsunami as well. So when you have got a device like this you have access to that kind of information and rolling updates instantaneously. It truly is television on the go anywhere, anytime.'
Derek: 'So when would we watch Mobile Television? Well, there are the obvious times - the business exec keeping an eye on the markets; the sports fan catching up with the big match. But there were unexpected results from trials here and abroad, and that is that many people like to take mobile television into the bedroom.'
Derek: 'So you were snuggling up with your mobile?'
Peter Dube (Trialist): 'Yes, that is right. I don't have a TV in my bedroom and being under the blankets on a cold night and I have got the phone, so it was quite convenient for me.'
Peter Dube is one of the trialists that have been watching DVB-H Mobile TV since November last year. Over 1 500 people around the country have been watching a variety of channels. 16-year- old Charl Engelbrecht is quite captivated by the small screen.
Derek: 'What was it like at first watching on the small screen?'
Charl Engelbrecht (Trialist): 'It was extremely interesting. I mean, the new technology was just really amazing to me.'
Derek: 'Where did you find yourself watching Mobile TV and thinking this is great?'
Charl: 'Mainly with my friends at school, but not in school time! It would always be in break.'
Derek: 'That is your story.'
Charl: 'And I'm sticking to it [laughs].'
Derek: 'Your mates must have clustered around you like you were an absolute hero.'
Charl: 'They loved it, but they would only watch Fashion TV.'
Derek: 'These are the channels that are on trial at the moment and, like any DSTV viewer, you can choose which channel you want to watch when and where it is convenient.'
But the difference is that you do not have to be a DSTV subscriber to have DVB-H Mobile television. Apart from the sports channels, you will also be able to watch movies - and Carte Blanche, of course.
The big question is - how much is it going to cost?
Linda: 'What you must understand, Derek, is that this is launched nowhere in the world. It is so new that nobody understands the business model yet. So, whether it is a monthly subscription; maybe if you are a DSTV subscriber you pay a little extra each month, maybe you don't. We don't know that yet; we're in the process of refining that.'
And it's not only the business models that are causing people to scratch their heads. Legislators are also grappling with the new technologies.
Derek: 'So how do we go about licensing?'
Kelvin: 'Now that is an interesting one, because in principle everybody has maybe got to have a TV license because you are walking around with a TV in your hand. But this is now where we have got what is called this 'convergence' - a number of what used to be different things, the TV, your cell phone all become one thing. So the government has now got to look into this and bring out legislation that covers all of this.'
Some critics have said that this technology may make us more anti-social.
Linda: 'I've read somewhere... and I can't remember where it was... when radio came out, how parents said, 'this is going to break up the family; this is it, it is over. We are going to become a completely dysfunctional human race'. And it hasn't happened. Technology actually brings people closer together. It is about dissemination of information. It is about access to information.'
Gail: 'For me, technology has been all about connection. If we look through Africa, not only in Johannesburg, but if we look throughout Africa, we find that technology has been a way to connect people, to become closer and that the globe is actually getting smaller.'
Whether we will be the first in the world or the first in the Southern Hemisphere, around 1 500 trialists will be watching the kick-off of the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Commercially, we could be up and running well before Christmas this year.
Linda: 'We believe that there are tremendous benefits for the country to demonstrate its technological readiness. To use the words from the Minister of Communication's recent speech in parliament, she says that the Afro-pessimists who said that we cannot do it well... in fact, technologies like these demonstrate that South Africa is ready. So we certainly want to launch pretty soon so that we can actually send that very powerful message to the rest of the world.'
Astrid: 'Watch this space, this tiny little space [on the cell phone] which will bring you the world.'
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:While every attempt has been made to ensure this transcript or summary is accurate, Carte Blanche or its agents cannot be held liable for any claims arising out of inaccuracies caused by human error or electronic fault. This transcript was typed from a transcription recording unit and not from an original script, so due to the possibility of mishearing and the difficulty, in some cases, of identifying individual speakers, errors cannot be ruled out.
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