How to Manage The Rising Tide Of Mobile Video

While social networking continues to explode and consumers transfer their daily Web habits to the mobile phone, there is a struggle simmering in the background for network operators to keep up with the demand. Carriers are especially feeling the impact of mobile video content’s speedy growth and the zealous use of it by subscribers around the globe.

Industry analysts predict by 2014, video will make up 66% of all mobile data traffic.1 This certainly isn’t surprising when you consider that the expected number of global mobile video/TV users will jump from approximately 250 million in 2010 to about 450 million in 2014.2
This is just a small sampling of industry research and analysis that points to consumers’ unquenchable thirst for mobile video. In part this desire is driven by the wave of new video-enabled mobile devices, video has redefined mobile networks and placed a premium on bandwidth—a demand the current networks can’t support.

On the horizon is 4G, marketed as the miracle cure for data congestion. Some consider it a band-aid solution, while others see it as a universal panacea. Yet the reality is that mobile carriers are seeking solutions today to deal with the expanding mobile Internet and, more specifically, the increasing use of mobile-video applications.
There is certainly no magic bullet. But with a combined approach, involving the adjustment of both carrier infrastructure and content delivery strategies, the industry will be able to curb the skyrocketing network-congestion problem.

Read more »

How to Manage The Rising Tide Of Mobile Video

While social networking continues to explode and consumers transfer their daily Web habits to the mobile phone, there is a struggle simmering in the background for network operators to keep up with the demand. Carriers are especially feeling the impact of mobile video content’s speedy growth and the zealous use of it by subscribers around the globe.

Industry analysts predict by 2014, video will make up 66% of all mobile data traffic.1 This certainly isn’t surprising when you consider that the expected number of global mobile video/TV users will jump from approximately 250 million in 2010 to about 450 million in 2014.2
This is just a small sampling of industry research and analysis that points to consumers’ unquenchable thirst for mobile video. In part this desire is driven by the wave of new video-enabled mobile devices, video has redefined mobile networks and placed a premium on bandwidth—a demand the current networks can’t support.

On the horizon is 4G, marketed as the miracle cure for data congestion. Some consider it a band-aid solution, while others see it as a universal panacea. Yet the reality is that mobile carriers are seeking solutions today to deal with the expanding mobile Internet and, more specifically, the increasing use of mobile-video applications.
There is certainly no magic bullet. But with a combined approach, involving the adjustment of both carrier infrastructure and content delivery strategies, the industry will be able to curb the skyrocketing network-congestion problem.

Read more »

How to Manage The Rising Tide Of Mobile Video

While social networking continues to explode and consumers transfer their daily Web habits to the mobile phone, there is a struggle simmering in the background for network operators to keep up with the demand. Carriers are especially feeling the impact of mobile video content’s speedy growth and the zealous use of it by subscribers around the globe.

Industry analysts predict by 2014, video will make up 66% of all mobile data traffic.1 This certainly isn’t surprising when you consider that the expected number of global mobile video/TV users will jump from approximately 250 million in 2010 to about 450 million in 2014.2
This is just a small sampling of industry research and analysis that points to consumers’ unquenchable thirst for mobile video. In part this desire is driven by the wave of new video-enabled mobile devices, video has redefined mobile networks and placed a premium on bandwidth—a demand the current networks can’t support.

On the horizon is 4G, marketed as the miracle cure for data congestion. Some consider it a band-aid solution, while others see it as a universal panacea. Yet the reality is that mobile carriers are seeking solutions today to deal with the expanding mobile Internet and, more specifically, the increasing use of mobile-video applications.
There is certainly no magic bullet. But with a combined approach, involving the adjustment of both carrier infrastructure and content delivery strategies, the industry will be able to curb the skyrocketing network-congestion problem.

Read more »

Online video providers not protecting kids

NOT SAFE: A screencap of the Hulu website. According to a study, mainstream online video sites in the United States, such as Hulu, are not doing enough to keep explicit content from kids.

Mainstream online video destinations in the United States don't do enough to keep explicit content from kids, the Parents Television Council said in a report.

The advocacy group, which monitors decency issues, evaluated the child appropriateness of four online video portals: Hulu, Comcast's Fancast, AOL's Slashcontrol and AT&T's U-verse. None received a better grade than a "D."

The study looked at home pages and 602 videos over a three-week period. The council found that standards are more lenient online than on broadcast television, that content ratings were vague, and that content that may be unsuitable for children under 14 could be watched by young children.

Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council said the report proved that the four websites "are failing to protect kids on the Web."

"The content ratings and parental control devices (media corporations) tout as a solution to indecent material on television are not being applied to similarly indecent material on their websites," Winter said.

Mark Siegel, a spokesman for AT&T, said in a statement that through a program called Smart Limits, the company provides various tools that enable parents to limit the kinds of videos children can view on computers, TVs and cellphones.

Hulu (which is owned by NBC Universal, News Corp, The Walt Disney Co and Providence Equity Partners), Comcast and AOL didn't respond to requests for comment on the study.

The report calls on online providers to implement more effective ways of filtering out content unsuitable for children, including homepages with a parental control option and more explicit ratings.

The Parents Television Council chose the sites it did for the study, it said, because they're aggregators of commercially supported streaming video. It excluded sites that display their own content exclusively and those that focused on user-generated video.

Source:
www.parentstv.org/PTC/publications/reports/OnlineVideo/Study.pdf

Online video providers not protecting kids

NOT SAFE: A screencap of the Hulu website. According to a study, mainstream online video sites in the United States, such as Hulu, are not doing enough to keep explicit content from kids.

Mainstream online video destinations in the United States don't do enough to keep explicit content from kids, the Parents Television Council said in a report.

The advocacy group, which monitors decency issues, evaluated the child appropriateness of four online video portals: Hulu, Comcast's Fancast, AOL's Slashcontrol and AT&T's U-verse. None received a better grade than a "D."

The study looked at home pages and 602 videos over a three-week period. The council found that standards are more lenient online than on broadcast television, that content ratings were vague, and that content that may be unsuitable for children under 14 could be watched by young children.

Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council said the report proved that the four websites "are failing to protect kids on the Web."

"The content ratings and parental control devices (media corporations) tout as a solution to indecent material on television are not being applied to similarly indecent material on their websites," Winter said.

Mark Siegel, a spokesman for AT&T, said in a statement that through a program called Smart Limits, the company provides various tools that enable parents to limit the kinds of videos children can view on computers, TVs and cellphones.

Hulu (which is owned by NBC Universal, News Corp, The Walt Disney Co and Providence Equity Partners), Comcast and AOL didn't respond to requests for comment on the study.

The report calls on online providers to implement more effective ways of filtering out content unsuitable for children, including homepages with a parental control option and more explicit ratings.

The Parents Television Council chose the sites it did for the study, it said, because they're aggregators of commercially supported streaming video. It excluded sites that display their own content exclusively and those that focused on user-generated video.

Source:
www.parentstv.org/PTC/publications/reports/OnlineVideo/Study.pdf

Online video providers not protecting kids

NOT SAFE: A screencap of the Hulu website. According to a study, mainstream online video sites in the United States, such as Hulu, are not doing enough to keep explicit content from kids.

Mainstream online video destinations in the United States don't do enough to keep explicit content from kids, the Parents Television Council said in a report.

The advocacy group, which monitors decency issues, evaluated the child appropriateness of four online video portals: Hulu, Comcast's Fancast, AOL's Slashcontrol and AT&T's U-verse. None received a better grade than a "D."

The study looked at home pages and 602 videos over a three-week period. The council found that standards are more lenient online than on broadcast television, that content ratings were vague, and that content that may be unsuitable for children under 14 could be watched by young children.

Tim Winter, president of the Parents Television Council said the report proved that the four websites "are failing to protect kids on the Web."

"The content ratings and parental control devices (media corporations) tout as a solution to indecent material on television are not being applied to similarly indecent material on their websites," Winter said.

Mark Siegel, a spokesman for AT&T, said in a statement that through a program called Smart Limits, the company provides various tools that enable parents to limit the kinds of videos children can view on computers, TVs and cellphones.

Hulu (which is owned by NBC Universal, News Corp, The Walt Disney Co and Providence Equity Partners), Comcast and AOL didn't respond to requests for comment on the study.

The report calls on online providers to implement more effective ways of filtering out content unsuitable for children, including homepages with a parental control option and more explicit ratings.

The Parents Television Council chose the sites it did for the study, it said, because they're aggregators of commercially supported streaming video. It excluded sites that display their own content exclusively and those that focused on user-generated video.

Source:
www.parentstv.org/PTC/publications/reports/OnlineVideo/Study.pdf