Paris, France - The DVB-H pilot run by the CANAL+ Group, Nokia, SFR and towerCast was given the go-ahead on 13 September 2005 by the CSA. Since then, 500 pilot participants* have had access to a range of TV channels** and radio stations, broadcast by the DVB-H standard on Nokia 7710 devices.

 

Summary of initial results (panel data: ISL for the CANAL+ Group and SYLAB YPSIS for SFR with statistics transmitted by the handsets)

 

- The participants watched TV an average of 20 minutes per day

- 50% of the participants stated that they watched mobile TV mainly at home***, 14% while travelling (to be weighted by the absence of coverage in the metro during the pilot) and 12% in the workplace

- 3 periods of highest use: morning (9/10H), midday (13/14H) and evening (20/22H). 18% of participants stated that they watched TV once a week, 57% several times a week and 25% once a day

- The most watched programmes were: news, music, entertainment, sport, documentaries and, for the CANAL+ testers, films

- 73% of participants said they were fairly or very satisfied with use of the service. 68% would be prepared to take out a subscription as proposed in the pilot for 7€/month or more

- More than 80% said they were satisfied with the content proposed

- For some participants, it was also possible to establish a link between time and place: short viewing periods (less than 5 minutes) in a waiting room, while waiting for the metro (the Place d'Italie station has DVBH coverage), at a friend's house / intermediate viewing periods (up to 30 minutes) in the car, bus / longer viewing periods (more than 30 minutes), indoors (home, restaurant, etc.)

 

These results confirm the initial lessons learned from 3G. DVB-H improves the user experience thanks to the sound and picture quality. The pilot participants particularly appreciated this, along with the size of the screen on which they could view the package of TV and radio channels. The fact that most TV was viewed indoors highlights the need to ensure very high quality coverage inside buildings, hence the choice of the particularly robust and effective broadcasting offered by the DVB-H standard.

 

The pilot continues and in particular will test new media and optimise the service in order to meet the needs of the mobile TV viewer as closely as possible. The above results confirm that mobile TV on a mobile phone or pocket television is an extremely attractive proposition. The group hopes that the regulatory, economic and industrial conditions for rapid deployment of mobile TV can be met as rapidly as possible.

 

 

* The panel of pilot trial participants comprised 53% men and 47% women, split 39% aged from 25 to 34, 32% from 35 to 49, 17% from 15 to 24 and 12% over 50. For the CANAL+ Group, the participants were recruited from their CANAL+ and/or CANALSAT subscriber base. The Nokia 7710 handset was made available to them exclusively for pocket TV use. The SFR participants were recruited from the SFR subscriber base (all subscriptions except 3G). The Nokia 7710 handset replaced their normal mobile phone.

** CANAL+, i>TELE, Planète, CinéCinéma, Sport+, L'Equipe TV, Equidia, Jimmy, Canal J, France 2, France 3, MCM Top, NRJ 12

*** Most participants were offered a selection of channels to which they did not normally have access.

 

CANAL+ Group is France's leading pay-TV operator. CANAL+ Group has two core businesses: production of pay-TV channels both premium (CANAL+) and theme channels (Sport+, i>TELE, CinéCinéma, Planète, Seasons, Comédie! and Cuisine TV); and distribution of pay-TV channels in both analog and digital, over-the-air, via satellite, cable, DTT and mobile phone (3G). CANAL+ Group is also a key player in feature film production and distribution. CANAL+ Group is a 100% owned subsidiary of Vivendi Universal.

 

Nokia is a world leader in mobile communications, driving the growth and sustainability of the broader mobility industry. Nokia connects people to each other and the information that matters to them with easy-to-use and innovative products like mobile phones, devices and solutions for imaging, games, media and businesses. Nokia provides equipment, solutions and services for network operators and corporations.

 

SFR is the second-ranking mobile phone operator in France with 35,8% of market share and 17.2 million customers on 31 December 2005. It recorded turnover of 8.7 billion euros in 2005.  Its GSM/GPRS network now covers over 98% of the French population and 87% of French territory. As the first mobile operator to launch 3G in France in November 2004, SFR covers now more than 60% of the French population in 3G.

 

towerCast, the first privately held French "tower company", manages several hundred elevated points for the transmission of radio broadcasts (FM, DAB), digital terrestrial television, telecommunications (UMTS, BLR), and professional radio. Thanks to its technical know-how and its ability to react quickly, tried and tested for 20 years, towerCast is today putting its experience of radio-communication technology to good use for the benefit of audiovisual companies and telecommunications operators (fixed and mobile telephone, local radio (BLR)) who wish to outsource the design, installation, and accommodation of their networks.

 

 

 

Groupe CANAL+

Antoine Banet-Rivet

Tel: +33 1 71 35 01 66

 

Nokia, Multimedia

Communications

Tel: +358 7180 45782

 

SFR

Carolina Mir

Tel: +33 1 71 07 64 82

www.sfr.fr

 

towerCast

Benoît Teyssandier

Tel: +33 1 40 71 49 19