Digital Multimedia Broadcasting

1. Changes in the trend of media industry

Media consumption patterns are slowly but steadily changing the digital home, and wireless connectivity enables similar changes outside the home. Disruptive technologies liberalized content release windows, regulatory changes, and a myriad of factors could dramatically change current trend lines of the customers. Before we start, let me first explain about the historical media disruptors. Firstly, the television forces radio out of national spotlight into locally based medium and then came the cable television, which evolves from relaying distant signals to narrow casting medium. Alternative newspapers emerge from counterculture voice to market threat, competing for advertisement revenue. Commercialization of the Internet and Web force “traditional” media to face the future and fight for advertisement revenue and consumer attention. The next generation of media, which is the DMB(Digital Multimedia Broadcasting), is now threatening the rest of the media.

2. What is DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting)?

According to the web-site scala.com, the definition of DMB is the process of broadcasting multimedia over the Internet, or satellite, to be tuned in by multimedia receivers, or players, capable of playing back the multimedia program. Through a process called multicast, a single broadcast can send programming to thousands of receivers, which can play back the content individualized to the location. This is one of the advantages of multimedia broadcasting over traditional video broadcasting.

In other words, DMB is a new kind of Convergence Service that is a combination of the characteristics broadcasting to public or private which can be used as a means of strengthen functions of multimedia and entertainment of Cell phone.

There are two types of DMB, Which is the ground wave DMB and satellite DMB. Ground wave DMB is a Digital broadcasting service that is transmitted through the transition tower on the ground and free watching service can be made possible. Satellite DMB is a charged satellite service that can be watched anywhere through a private portable devices.

3. Four Characteristics and Advantages of satellite DMB

• New Media - Overcame the limitations time and place of existing broadcasters

• Mobility - Can be connected anywhere through portable devices

• Personal - Individual media

• Multimedia - Can freely use the contents through voice, data and video and can be connected freely in cell phones and wireless Internet

4. Stages of the introduction of DMB

- Research of DAB started in Europe during the late 1980s

- EUREKA-147 project started in 1987

- EUREKA-147 adapted as Europe' standard on Feb, 1995

- BBC started the ground wave DAB service on Sep, 1995