QuicklyBored

Jason DaPonte, is the Managing Editor for the BBC’s Mobile Platforms. I met him at Mobile Content 2008 in Seoul Korea, and I’ve started paying attention to his blog. He’s got a good post on mobile TV (DMB) in South Korea. Something I’ve also posted about and am really interested in.

In his post, Jason talks about the the programming and interactivity of mobile TV in Korea. As someone who has lived in the country, I think I can shed some light on these subjects.

In terms of programming, it does reflect the basic cable available in South Korea. What’s funny about this though, is just how different cable TV is compared to our local programming. One of the first things you’ll notice, is that they of course have a 24/7 mobile Starcraft channel. The programming has a nice variety of comedy, music, news and another type of programming that’s specific to Korea - educational television. This isn’t just television like Discovery Channel, that’s considered educational, but actual physics and math lessons on your mobile device. I personally love the music channel:

Something I was not aware of, probably because my Korean wasn’t good enough to sign up for the services, is the DMB notification services. Jason writes:

“Functionally, two cool features I saw were texting alerts about live programming reminders to friends in your phone contacts and DVR functionality, which one user really raved about liking.”

In terms of interactivity, Korean mobile TV isn’t anything to rave about. There aren’t any shows that are specific to the mobile platform, and it’s not tailored to the individual. It is actually just another medium to send basic cable. In the near future, I’m sure we’ll see Korean devices sending user info to the content providers, in order to tailor programming and advertising to the appropriate demographic.

I’m trying to get Jason to contribute to QB, so hopefully we’ll have more insight into the UK mobile scene via his superior bloggin skills.