About Mobile TV

In South Africa, consumers are able to access mobile television content if they have a 3G-enabled cellphone and are eligible to receive such content through the terms and conditions of their contract with one of the Mobile Operators, or if they have been selected to participate in MultiChoice's current DVB-H mobile TV trial. DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcast – Handheld) is widely considered to be the leader of the pack when it comes to mobile broadcast technologies.

DVB-H is the current standard for digital broadcasting in South Africa and allows for the digital terrestrial broadcast of live television channels to a cellphone using a broadcast network infrastructure and broadcast frequencies.


DVB-H and 3G are Complementary Technologies
DVB-H differs from 3G (Third Generation) mobile technology. 3G utilises a cellular telephony network infrastructure and frequency. It is a one-to-one ("point-to-point") transmission, and as a result is subject to bandwidth and quality limitations. If too many users try to watch video content simultaneously on their cellphones, the network could become overloaded and picture quality can be adversely affected.

DVB-H, by contrast, is one-to-many true broadcast to cellphones that does not suffer such limitations ("point-to-multipoint" transmission).

Nevertheless 3G is very attractive in the mobile television world because it can accommodate a "return path" – this allows a user to request content on demand, and download it for use immediate or later use.

This makes 3G a two-way or "bi-directional" transmission, whilst DVB-H (like ordinary TV) is a one-way or "uni-directional" broadcast.