Television, like all methods of communication, is adapting to the times. Like the push before it in the online space, the hunger for video that matches the quality experience at home has reached the mobile frontier.
The opportunity for video on mobile is arguably even greater than PC-based viewing yet, due in some part to the size and ability of mobile devices, companies that cut their teeth in online video find themselves uniquely positioned to make a solid run in the wireless space.
Harmonic Inc., a video encoding provider, has made a significant shift in priorities to claim its seat at the table. “We have completely re-engineered the company,” said David Price, VP of business development and marketing at Harmonic.
“We’ve kicked ahead of the game on things and we have been closely following mobile TV and looking at the point at where we are entering it,” he said.
At this point Harmonic doesn’t see the market maturing until more advanced and multiplatform systems come into play. Price said it’s “oxymoronic” to have a “next-generation service in your hand” that’s really two steps back in technology and offerings available at home. “It’s not going to take off until they have those advanced services,” he said.
“We are moving to more ways of delivering service to the mobile phone. Everything is IP-based so it’s an addressable market, it has personalizations,” Price said. “I’m looking at mobile as being quite a big space.”
With MediaFLO USA Inc. initially focused on broadcast, Harmonic is working to move providers into a more varied model that would include DVR-like services coupled with broadcast and on-demand programming. “When they wake up to the fact that they can’t get a critical mass of subscribers by just doing broadcast, they’ll get into unicast,” Price said.
Harmonic sees itself “seamlessly integrating these information pipes” for a deeper mobile experience, he said.
“You’ve already got two tuners in a DVB-H or MediaFLO device, so maybe you have three or four,” Price said. “I’m looking at more than just video to the handheld phone. I’m looking at that as being one sector of mobile video.”
