S-DMB in South Korea

Among the newly promoted technologies, mobile television service is gathering the most interest. Mobile television services, dubbed digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB), are designed to beam digital television, audio and data to handheld devices via satellite or land-based television airwaves.

And because each end user has control over when and where they view their desired programming, DMB is characterized as a personalized service.

In South Korea, there are two kinds of DMB services:

• One is the terrestrial DMB (T-DMB) that is based on land-based broadcast towers to provide a multi-channel broadcasting service. Six T-DMB licenses were issued in March 2005. Commercial T-DMB services are expected to begin in the second half of 2005.

• The other is the satellite DMB (S-DMB) that allows consumers to view satellite transmissions on their handheld devices. On Jan. 10, TU Media, the nation’s single license holder for SDMB and 30% owned by the country's largest mobile carrier SK Telecom, launched its S-DMB service on a pilot run before its commercial launch in May 2005.

At present, TU Media is providing 7 video and 20 radio channels to customers on a monthly fixed-rate of 13,000 won (13US$). Subscribers to the service will pay 20,000 won (20US$) initiation fee.

Genre	Channel No.	Contents	Service Hour
Entertainment	7	Ch.BLUE	24h
Music	8	m.Net	24h
News	12	YTN	24h
Cinema	13	Home CGV	24h
Sports	14	MBC, ESPN, SBS DMB Sports	24h
Drama	15	MBC Drama Net, SBS DMB	24h
Game	17	Ongamenet	16:00~04:00

According to TU Media, it has attracted more than 50,000 customers during its first commercial month. The company is targeting 600,000 to 700,000 customers by the end of this year and expects to break even when it gathers about 5.5 million customers, which it believes will happen four to five years from now.

For more information, please contact Isabelle Burdet – iburdet@4icom.fr – tel: + 33 1 44 50 16 25

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