800 million Smart Phone : Each to become a TRP Set Top Box ?
Context :
Direct-to-Mobile broadcasting Roundup: Everything you need to know about this new technology / 10 Nov 2022
Extract :
The Department of Telecommunications and India’s public service broadcaster Prasar Bharti has been working on a technology that will allow the broadcasting of video and other forms of multimedia content directly to mobile phones, without a need for an active internet connection.
This technology is being called a ‘Direct-to-Mobile’ (D2M) service and it claims to improve the consumption of broadband and utilization of spectrum.
The technology is based on the convergence of broadband and broadcast, using which smartphones will receive terrestrial digital TV.
This would be similar to how an FM radio works on your phone, where a receiver can tap into radio frequencies. Using D2M, multimedia content will also be beamed to phones directly. OTT platforms like Netflix can also use the D2M tech to push multimedia content to mobile phones directly.
What can D2M do for everyone?
The D2M tech will help the government convey important information directly to the people, issue emergency alerts, counter fake news, and assist with disaster management.
It will help the cable and DTH sectors to broadcast now to homes without needing any intermediary.
The telecom and internet service providers will be able to offload video traffic from their mobile network onto the broadcast network. This will increase the data speeds and reduce call drops substantially.
For the consumers, it would mean access to multimedia content from VoD or OTT platforms without exhausting their mobile data and at a nominal price.
This will be more useful for those in rural areas, as they have limited or no internet access to watch videos. Users living in places with limited or no internet access will be able to watch video content without an active internet connection.
The new D2M tech will support students to access educational content for schools and colleges in remote areas. Farmers can access weather forecasts and information on different cultural practices without the internet.
What has DoT done to bring D2M?
The Department of Technology has conducted a study to find a spectrum band that will help offer broadcast services directly to users’ smartphones.
IIT Kanpur collaborated with Prasar Bharti to test the feasibility of the D2M tech and delivered proof of the concept. Prasar Bharti uses the 526-582 MHz band for terrestrial TV broadcasting and the same band is said to work in sync for both mobile and broadcast services.
When can D2M tech be expected?
The D2M technology is still in a nascent stage in the country and won’t be available before 3-4 years.
Challenges to D2M tech
Prasar Bharti’s CEO claims that bringing key stakeholders like mobile operators on board will be the biggest challenge in launching D2M technology on a wide scale.
I&B Ministry Secretary Apurva Chandra said a mass roll-out of the tech will need some changes in infrastructure and some regulatory changes as well.
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Direct-to-mobile broadcasting pilot study in Delhi-NCR soon / ECO TIMES / 18 Nov 2022
Extract :
A pilot study on direct-to-mobile broadcasting, that has the potential to enhance the reach of the television manifold will be carried out in the Delhi National Capital Region, soon , Information and Broadcasting Secretary Apurva Chandra said on Thursday
Currently, there are about 20 crore television households in the country. India has over 60 crore smart phone users and 80 crore broadband users. Reach of the television media is set to be much higher, he said
MY TAKE :
Not a day passes without some mobile phone manufacturer launching a “ Smarter “ smart phone having new capabilities and vastly enhanced capacities
To get some idea of the rate at which the Smart phones are getting ever more powerful, consider this :
“ To put that into more concrete terms, the latest phones typically have 4GB of RAM. That is 34,359,738,368 bits. This is more than one million (1,048,576 to be exact) times more memory than the Apollo computer had in RAM. The iPhone also has up to 512GB of ROM memory. That is 4,398,046,511,104 bits, which is more seven million times more than that of the guidance computer.
But memory isn’t the only thing that matters. The Apollo 11 computer had a processor – an electronic circuit that performs operations on external data sources – which ran at 0.043 MHz.
The latest iPhone’s processor is estimated to run at about 2490 MHz. Apple do not advertise the processing speed, but others have calculated it.
This means that the iPhone in your pocket has over 100,000 times the processing power of the computer that landed man on the moon 50 years ago.
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Dear Shri Vaghelaji ,
[ P.D. Vaghela, cp@trai.gov.in, , cha
Only 2 days ago, you said :
“ Therefore, in the new technological world of convergence, we need to deliberate on the possible alignment of regulatory regime keeping in view the scenario of ‘ multiple screens, same content ’. At Trai, we believe in policies and regulations that are technology-neutral."
( source : Convergence of Content )
The above-quoted news report talks of the following screens :
Ø TV Screens ………………………………………… 20 crore
Ø Smart Phone Screens ………………………… 60 crore
Ø Desktop/Tablet Screens………………………80 crore
What it leaves out, are :
Ø Smart Watch Screens………………………… ?
Ø AR-VR-MR headset Screens………………..?
It also leaves out Screens of billions of following IoT connected:
Ø Eye glasss …………… ………………………………?
Ø Devices ( Alexa / Google Mini ).………… ?
Ø Domestic appliances…………………………….?
Ø Medical Devices…………………………………… ?
It is only a matter of time before “ Direct – to – Mobile “ broadcasting of videos covers, not only those 60 crore “ Mobile Phone Screens “ but TRILLIONS of screens listed above
And these screens will carry ADVERTISEMENTS based on the “ Viewing History “ of each screen
Question :
If not based on “ Viewing History “ but based on current method of TRP ( Television Rating Points ) calculated by Bar-O-Meters, then how will advertising work ?
Answer :
Each screen will become a Bar –O – Meter ( a super-computing set top box ) working on Return Path Data ( RPD )
With billions of screens helping to compute TRP , there will be no manipulations
What is more, since thousands of VIDEO CHANNELS will be streaming videos on any of the above-mentioned screens simultaneously at any given time , it will be almost impossible for a consumer / user / device-owner, to be able to “ SELECT and SUBSCRIBE “ a few channels in ADVANCE ( just too many options / paradox of choice )
This will lead to “ Pay Per Use “ ( measured in “ minutes of viewing “ ) for viewers
In turn, this will enforce “ Pre-Payment “ only
Dear Shri Vaghelaji,
You may want to keep in mind the above-mentioned “ Technology Scenario “ while drawing up your “ Regulatory Framework “
No one knows it better than yourself that the Regulatory Frameworks are notoriously lagging behind technological advances
With regards,
Hemen Parekh
hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 20 Nov 2022
Related Readings :
Ø Make Every TV, a Computer ? First Step taken [ 05 Nov 2021 ]
Ø Thank You , cp@trai.gov.in................
Ø TRP : Manipulation can be Eliminated……………….. [ 08 Oct 2020 ]
Ø The Future of TV Viewing ?.............................
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