Back 2006-02-27: Initial results from the mobile TV pilot trial conducted by CANAL+, Nokia, SFR and towerCast confirm interest in mobile television > 73% of the participants were satisfied with the service The DVB-H pilot run by the CANAL+ Group, Nokia, SFR and towerCast was given the go-ahead on 13 September 2005 by the CSA. Since then, 500 users* have had access to a range of TV channels** and radio stations, broadcast by the DVB-H standard on Nokia 7710 mobile phone handsets. Summary of initial results (panel data: ISL for the CANAL+ Group and SYLAB YPSIS for SFR with statistics transmitted by the handsets) The participants watched TV an average of 20 minutes per day. 50% of the participants stated that they watched mobile TV mainly at home***, 14% while travelling (to be weighted by the absence of coverage in the metro during the pilot) and 12% in the workplace. 3 periods of highest use: morning (9/10H), midday (13/14H) and evening (20/22H). 18% of participants stated that they watched TV once a week, 57% several times a week and 25% once a day; The most watched programmes were: news, music, entertainment, sport, documentaries and, for the CANAL+ testers, films 73% of participants said they were fairly or very satisfied with use of the service. 68% of them would be prepared to take out a subscription as proposed in the pilot for 7€/month or more; More than 80% of them said they were satisfied with the content proposed; For some participants, it was also possible to establish a link between time and place: short viewing periods (less than 5 minutes) in a waiting room, while waiting for the metro (the Place d’Italie station has DVBH coverage), or at a friend's house / intermediate viewing periods (up to 30 minutes) in the car, bus / longer viewing periods (more than 30 minutes) indoors (home, family, restaurant, etc.). These results confirm the initial lessons learned from 3G. DVB-H improves the user experience thanks to the sound and picture quality. The pilot participants particularly appreciated this, along with the size of the screen on which they could view the package of TV and radio channels. The fact that most TV was viewed indoors highlights the need to ensure very high quality coverage inside buildings, hence the choice of the particularly robust and effective broadcasting offered by the DVB-H standard. The pilot will be continuing, in particular to test new media and optimise the service in order to meet the needs of the mobile TV viewer as closely as possible. The above results confirm that mobile TV on a mobile phone or pocket television is an extremely attractive proposition. The group hopes that the regulatory, economic and industrial conditions for rapid deployment of mobile TV can be met as rapidly as possible. * The panel of pilot trial participants comprised 53% men and 47% women, split 39% aged from 25 to 34, 32% from 35 to 49, 17% from 15 to 24 and 12% over 50. For the CANAL+ Group, the participants were recruited from their CANAL+ and/or CANALSAT subscriber base. The Nokia 7710 handset was made available to them exclusively for pocket TV use. The SFR participants were recruited from the SFR subscriber base (all subscriptions except 3G). The Nokia 7710 handset replaced their normal mobile phone. ** CANAL+, i>TELE, Planète, CinéCinéma, Sport+, L’Equipe TV, Equidia, Jimmy, Canal J, France 2, France 3, MCM Top, NRJ 12 *** Most participants were offered a selection of channels to which they did not normally have access.