Business Briefings Place Mobile Multimedia Trends in Spotlight at IBC 2007

Trends in the consumption of multimedia content on mobile devices
will be put under the spotlight in the Business Briefing programme on
Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th September at IBC 2007, Amsterdam.

According to mobile media research firm M:Metrics, 0.8 percent of
European mobile phone subscribers - over 1.7 million individuals -
tuned into mobile TV services at least once a month during an average
month in Q2 this year. Paul Goode, Senior Vice President and Senior
Analyst at M:Metrics, "While it is early days in the development of
this new sector, most mobile operators in the EU now offer programmed
TV over their 3G or EDGE (2.5G) networks and are beginning to attract
a sizable number of regular viewers."

Front-runner among the five biggest markets of the EU is Italy,
where the first DVB-H mobile broadcast networks have heightened
awareness of mobile TV. A little over a year after the services
launched, just under 450,000 people - around one percent of all mobile
users in Italy - already use own a DVB-H capable handset. More than 31
percent of users with a DVB-H handset tuned in during June 2007 and
over half of these did so at least once a week.

In contrast to services such as ringtones and game downloads, the
market for mobile broadcast viewing is currently skewed towards young
male users. The gender gap is quite pronounced - 70 percent of
broadcast TV viewers are men and only 30 percent women - while 18-24
year old men are four times as likely to watch than older men. The
number of female viewers is spread across all age groups more evenly.

M:Metrics will provide a more in-depth exploration of multimedia
content consumption, look at the pricing of mobile TV packages and
provide a more detailed examination of the Italian market in its
Business Briefing at 09.30 on Sunday 9th September. "Mobile TV
continues to be a hot topic in both the mobile and broadcast
industries," said M:Metrics' Goode. "If mobile TV is to achieve its
full potential, all parties need to understand the current state of
the market and where the opportunities lie. Our Business Briefing will
provide some invaluable insight."

In other free-admission Business Briefings, National Grid Wireless
and Qualcomm MediaFLO will explore business models for broadcasting to
mobiles, while Thomson, weComm and S3 will examine the impact of
service provider technology choices on business case and user
experience and Ericsson will consider the role of mobile TV in the new
world of TV2.0. Producing and presenting content for mobile and
converged services will be addressed by Snell & Willcox and Bluestreak
while National Grid Wireless will consider the role of WiMAX as a
platform for mobile TV in the future. Signiant, Thomson and
Nagravision will look at the some of the challenges and opportunities
related to multimedia delivery across mobile and other platforms such
as IPTV.

IBC's dedicated Mobile Zone provides a unique opportunity for
application developers, content providers and technology companies to
showcase their capabilities in this important emerging fields. Live
DVB-H, MediaFLO and WiMAX demonstration broadcasts will be available
throughout the Mobile Zone and elsewhere in the RAI conference and
exhibition centre. Mobile will also be a key thread throughout the
Digital Lifestyles theme day in the IBC Conference on Saturday 8th
September.

Celebrating its 40th anniversary, IBC has evolved from its roots
in terrestrial broadcasting to become the leading international event
for professionals involved in the creation, management and delivery of
entertainment, sports and news content worldwide.

"Through the Mobile Zone, Business Briefings and the Digital
Lifestyles day in the IBC Conference, IBC 2007 provides numerous
opportunities for the broadcast and telecom sectors to understand the
reality of the mobile multimedia opportunity," said Mike Crimp,
Marketing Director of IBC.

Dates:

IBC Conference: Thursday 6th - Monday 10th September 2007

IBC Exhibition: Friday 7 September - Tuesday 11th September

Registration

Exhibition-entry registration (which includes access to the
Business Briefings and designated free sessions within the Conference
programme) is free until 08:00 hours BST on Monday 20 August.

To register, visit www.ibc.org

Location:

IBC takes place at the RAI in Amsterdam

With its own railway station, the RAI is served by regular train
services, and is only two stops from Amsterdam's Schipol Airport.

More information on IBC2007 can be obtained from the IBC podcasts

For press enquiries relating to mobile TV and IPTV aspects of IBC,
please contact Ian Volans +44 7956 505 690 or ian@volansconsulting.com

News from IBC exhibitors is available on the IBC website and at
the Virtual Press Office