|
June 27, 2009
|
|
| About half of all Koreans subscribe to mobile TV services that enable users to view programs, movies and other entertainment content via handheld devices, industry data showed yesterday. TU Media, the country’s sole operator of satellite-based digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB), said the number of its subscribers topped 2 million as of Thursday afternoon, four years after it launched the service. “We lured 2 million subscribers in just four years, the shortest span among fee-based broadcasting firms,” a company official said. In addition, more than 20 million terrestrial DMB devices, including mobile phones, were also sold as of the end of May, according to industry sources. The numbers suggest that about 45 percent of Korea’s population of 49 million enjoy mobile TV service. Korea first launched its DMB service in 2005, the first country in the world to do so, with the development of digital radio transmission technology. It has since become a ubiquitous feature of society thanks to a tech-savvy population and widespread cellular phones and laptop computers. Dubbed “TVs in hand,” the mobile service allows people to surf TV channels via palm-sized monitors built into their cell phones while sitting in an underground subway or traveling via train. Various modes of public transportation such as buses, trains, and subways have also begun to equip vehicles with monitors broadcasting programs at all times. Korea currently has five DMB operators, including four television broadcasters providing land-based service free of charge and one satellite digital broadcaster. TU Media, a unit of mobile giant SK Telecom, charges less than $4 per month for accessing 21 video channels and 16 radio stations. Korea has been pursuing DMB as a future growth engine for the telecommunications industry, which is nearing saturation in the country. Yonhap |
|
