YLE postpones introduction of mobile phone TV

Copyright issues and lack of handsets remain unresolved

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The Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE) says that it will not introduce mobile telephone services on the DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld) network this year. Finland's public service broadcaster is postponing the introduction of DVB because disagreements over copyright issues have not been resolved, and because the types of handsets that would be needed for watching programmes on such a network are not yet in widespread use in Finland.
      Copyright organisations insist that separate copyright payments should be paid for programmes carried on DVB-H - even if the content is the same as that which is broadcast on ordinary television channels.
     
The Ministry of Education has been studying the copyright issue, following a Parliamentary resolution urging it to do so. No results have been made public yet.
      No conclusions on the view of the ministry can be drawn on the basis of Thursday's announcement by YLE, notes Olli-Pekka Heinonen, YLE's Director of Television.
      YLE plans to monitor the situation, and make decisions on possible further measures by the end of the year.
      The commercial MTV3 television network is sticking to its previous decision not to begin DVB-H services before the copyright issue has been resolved, says deputy CEO Mikko Räisänen.
      Nelonen (Channel 4), which is part of SanomaWSOY, is also waiting before taking further action.
      "This is not among the first items on our priority list", said Juha-Pekka Louhelainen, head of business operations at Nelonen.
     
Once the problems are ironed out, it will be possible to watch all YLE programming freely on telephones with DVB-H capability.
      For pay-TV channels, subscribers will need to pay a fee to their mobile phone service providers.
      Channels funded by advertising would probably be available in DVB-H without a separate fee.
      Of the mobile phone operators, Elisa says that it is ready to launch DVB-H service as soon as actual programming becomes available.
      DNA is ready to launch the service in the spring of next year.
      TeliaSonera would like to offer the service to its customers, but without handsets and content, the launch will be slow, says Pasi Mehtonen, the company's head of product development.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finns willing to pay for mobile TV viewing (31.8.2005)
  Mobile phones with TV receivers being tested (9.3.2005)
  New Nokia phones advance "digital home" concept (3.11.2005)
  Nokia to bring digital television to mobile phones by 2006 (3.11.2004)

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