Amazingly Enough: People Don't Want To Pay To Watch Broadcast TV On Their Mobile Phones
from the who-woulda-thunk-it? dept
Back in 2004, with mobile companies left and right announcing plans to launch premium-priced broadcast TV services for mobile phones, some of us were wondering who would actually pay for such a thing? After all, you were talking about a tiny screen and people on the go who likely didn't have the time to sit and watch an entire TV program. Even more importantly, in the age of both time-shifting and internet video, it's increasingly less important to be able to see a TV program right now, when you can catch up later. Yet, that didn't stop many companies from throwing billions into such projects, spurred on by analyst reports predicting huge revenue to come. Yet, after all these years, it seems that mobile operators are finally realizing that people just aren't that interested -- especially if it costs extra. It's no surprise why mobile operators ignored all the warning signs. Analyst firms were singing the praises of mobile data services and warning any operator that didn't jump on the bandwagon that they'd be left behind. Yet, at some point, you'd think it would make sense for the mobile operators and the analysts hyping this stuff up to take a step back and see if what they were pitching actually had any value to users.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: broadcast tv, mobile phones
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Just a minor correction there. It's not free, it's paid for via an enforced TV licensing subscription.
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There's sooo much!
Now if you manage to get ahold of some device that can fit in a pocket, AND pickup OTA transmissions, then you might be on to something, but the only party that will get rich off of that is the manufacturer... and since the market for mobile phones in this country is so tightly held by the wireless telcos, they'll prolly markup the hell out of it too.
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TV on Phones
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Bucking Major Trends --- not so smart
But the carriers tried to force feed a poor quality broadcast service.
I'm thinking the carriers should continue to work on beefing up the capabilities of their network and forget about platforms for mobile TV.
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Duh!
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Pay Phone TV
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It's not just me?
Welcome, curmudgeons!
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Windows Media Encoder??
I get a laugh out of people that pay their phone company for video service, when the technology to get streaming video is already completely present on most phones.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKiIroiCvZ0
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Tip for MobiTV
Charging $9.99 a month for a luxury item like this, on top of already high mobile phone bill, is not a smart business move.
This is a good tip for MobiTV....
REDUCE YOUR PRICE AND YOU WILL INCREASE YOUR CUSTOMER BASE, THUS INCREASING PROFITABILITY.
Simple Economics 101
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Tip for MobiTV
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