Mobile TV Reaches 22M Viewers in South Korea

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According to an article in The Korea Times last week, the audience for mobile TV in S. Korea has reached 22 million. While this sounds like good news for SK Telecom, KT and LG Telecom, the article said "Despite the growing audience, however, a sustainable business model remains elusive for television operators who are reeling from declining average revenue per user and weak advertisement sales."

It is important to note that the Mobile DTV referred to in The Korea Times article is DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) and it is offered over satellite to mobile handsets by TU Media, a division of SK Telecom and over terrestrial transmitters by SK Telecom, KT and LG Telecom. Although South Korea adopted the ATSC standard for terrestrial DTV, as far as I know mobile DTV based on the ATSC mobile DTV candidate standard is not yet available.

Terrestrial DMB is a free service and some of the satellite channels are free. The mobile carriers sell handsets with both terrestrial and satellite DMB capability.

Doug Lung
Doug Lung
Contributor

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack. A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.