A special report on television

A special report on television关于电视的特别报告An emergency screen只是非常时刻的选择Mobile television is unlikely to take off手机电视未必能获得成功Apr 29th 2010 | From The Economist print editionA YOUNG man gazes intently at his mobile device, to which he is listening through earphones. He is so engrossed in his film, his television show, his computer game or whatever he is watching that he does not notice he is blocking the door of the train. Other passengers glare at him. “Do it at home,” counsels the bright yellow poster on the Tokyo metro.戴着耳塞，一位年轻人正聚精会神地盯着他的手机。

他太过沉醉于手机屏幕上显示的东西了（如电影、电视节目、电脑游戏或者是任何能播放的东西），以至于没察觉到自己正巧堵住了车门。

因此其他乘客对他怒目而视。

“回家去做吧”，那是贴在东京地铁站的黄色醒目海报的忠告。

In 2009 some 43% of Japan’s population watched TV on mobile phones, according to Impress R+D, a research firm. It is the only country apart from South Korea where the platform has become commonplace. But mobile television in Japan is not all that mobile. When broadcasts began in 2005, people were expected to use their toys to while away long commutes by train or to kill time while waiting for the bus. Instead they mostly choose to play with them at home. 根据Impress R+D这家调查公司的研究结果，2009年有43%的日本人通过手机观看电视。

除了韩国之外，日本是唯一一个手机电视平台已经相当普及的国家。

但是在日本，手机电视可不像手机那么回事。

当2005年手机电视开始播送的时候，运营商希望人们在长时间地乘坐地铁上下班时，或者是等公车的时候能够利用它来消磨时间，但是相反的是，人们主要还是选择在家里观看手机电视。

Imagine a teenage girl who wants to watch an episode of her favourite soap opera. The living-room television is being monopolised by her father, who is watching sport. Her brother is using the computer. What does she do? If she is an American, living in a reasonably affluent household, she simply switches on another television. There is probably one in her bedroom. If she is South Korean or Japanese, on the other hand, she is more likely to live in a high-rise flat with only one set. She settles down in her tiny bedroom, pulls a mobile phone out of her pocket and turns it on. The screen is small but adequate. “You know the characters already,” explains Younghee Yung of Nokia, a phonemaker.试着想象下当一个十几岁的少女想看一集她喜欢的肥皂剧时，他的父亲正霸占着客厅的电视看着体育比赛，他的弟弟正用着电脑，那么少女该干什么呢？如果她来自美国，家境不错，那么很简单，她可以打开另一台电视，因为她的卧室里很可能就有一台。

但是如果她是韩国人或者日本人，那么从另一方面来说，她可能住在只有一台电视机的高层住宅楼。

她待在她的狭小卧室里，从口袋里拿出了手机并开机。

虽然屏幕有点小但也足够看了。

来自诺基亚的Younghee Yung 解释道：“你早就对这一切了如指掌了。

”When asked why people watch mobile television in their homes, Japanese and South Korean media executives tend to make the same gesture. They clutch their mobile phone to their chests, signifying “mine”. The appeal of mobile television is not so much that it is portable but that it is personal. When it proves impossible to reach agreement with other television-watchers in a household, mobile TV is a reasonable fall-back option. It is also a dismal business.当被问及为什么人们会选择在家观看手机电视时，日本和韩国的媒体主管往往会做一个相同的动作。

他们在胸前紧紧握住自己的手机，意味着自己独享的东西。

手机电视吸引人的地方并不在于它是便携式的，而是因为它的私人性。

当不能与家里其他的电视观众达成一致时（即观看相同的电视节目），手机电视便成了合适的候补选项。

手机电视的前景并不乐观。

In both Japan and South Korea practically everybody gets their mobile television free. Phones come with receivers that pick up digital broadcast signals, which are usually sent in bursts to conserve battery life. The service was supposed to be supported by advertising, but the prop is weak. Although many Japanese and South Koreans watch television on their phones, they tend to do so briefly and erratically, so programmes often attract small audiences. In South Korea a15-second advertisement on mobile television costs less thanone-tenth of what it would take to reach the same number of viewers on broadcast television.在日本和韩国，实际上每个人都是免费观看手机电视的。

手机上搭载的接收器隔三差五地接收广播的信号，以便于延长电池寿命。

手机电视这项业务原本是希望通过广告来获取收入的，但是来自广告商的支持太少了。

尽管很多日本人和韩国人很多都观看手机电视，他们往往只是看上一小段或者随便看看，所以电视节目只能吸引小群的观众。

在韩国，当观看人数相同时，投放一段15秒钟的手机电视广告的费用不到广播电视的十分之一。

If mobile TV is not used enough to make money from advertising, it is also not essential enough to persuade lots of people to pay. “There is no business model,” says Kei Shimada of Infinita, a Tokyo consultancy. South Korean broadcasters have threatened to stop paying for reception on the Seoul subway, which was wired for mobile broadcasts in 2005. Seong-Choon Lee of KT, a Korean telecoms firm, says the company is wondering whether to carry on with mobile television at all.如果手机电视不能从广告商那边赚取足够多的钱，那么说服很多人去购买这种手机也就没什么必要了。

“这里面没有商业模式”，来自东京一家咨询公司Infinita 的京島田说到。

韩国的电视公司已经威胁要停止支付首尔地铁的广播接收的费用，在05年的时候接收装置被安装，用来传输移动广播。

“公司正在考虑是否停止运营手机电视”，来自韩国电信的Seong-Choon Lee说到。

Even before it catches on elsewhere, mobile television is failing in the two countries where it seemed most likely to succeed. The experience of Japan and South Korea suggests that people will watch TV on tiny screens if they have to. But those countries also provide a reminder that popularity does not always translate into business success.Old-fashioned TV wins again.在其他地方流行之前，手机电视正在两个最有可能成功的国家逐渐淡出市场。