Nearly half of S. Koreans enjoy mobile TV

By Lee Youkyung
SEOUL, June 26 (Yonhap) - About half of all South Koreans subscribe to mobile TV
services that enable users to view programs, movies and other entertainment
content via handheld devices, industry data showed Friday.

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 South Korea's 49-million population
enjoy mobile TV service.
South 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.
South 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 US $4 per month for accessing 21 video channels and 16 radio stations.
South Korea has been pursuing DMB as a future growth engine for the
telecommunications industry, which is nearing saturation in the country.
ylee@yna.co.kr
(END)