China Mobile Opposes Free CMMB Mobile DTV

By Doug Lung
published

State owned Chinese telecom giant China Mobile says the country's mobile TV service should be fee based, according to Marbridge Daily.

In the article, Yu Rongrong, deputy director of China Mobile Research Institute's business development division argues that China Mobile should avoid free television service.

"China Mobile should commit to fee-based TD-SCDMA mobile phone TV services rather than a free model, as it may lead to a 'vicious circle' as was the case in Korea, where mobile TV advertising created user resentment," Rongrong said.

China Mobile developed the Mobile Broadcast Business Management System (MBBMS) that can use broadcast and wireless connections to provide fee-based mobile phone TV services. The company owns the world's largest mobile network and the world's largest mobile subscriber base. According to the article, MBBMS has already served 500 million mobile users. China Mobile and China Satellite Mobile Broadcasting Corporation may sign an agreement in September to conduct official trials using CMMB.

Doug Lung
Doug Lung

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.