Well it’s a question I’ve asked a number of times before, citing pieces of evidence both for and against. However, I’ve come across two articles within the same week that are both asking the question about whether Mobile TV is going to continue as a viable service…
The first article on Broadband TV News states “Mobile TV – looking for the right business model” – and as the title suggests, the business model is a major issue. It was somewhat of a surprise to some within the Industry that actually people wouldn’t fancy paying £5-£10/month (on top of their existing mobile bill) to access TV on the move. Since then, the white knight has been Advertising – yep, if we can offer Ads on the channels, then we can offer channels for a reduced cost, or even free. Well newsflash: Mobile Advertising has yet to be proven also (certainly in the rich media sense, an example of which is Mobile TV!)
The second article on Read Write Web asks “Does Mobile TV have a future?” – and covers quite a few bases regarding the issues being faced, and what needs to be done. It does however end with one neat statement, that says dongles for Laptops might actually be a nice idea – and I couldn’t agree more. People get that idea of having to plug a USB dongle for their Laptops to access mobile broadband for example, so Mobile TV rendering on a Laptop via a USB dongle? Oh yes. Otherwise you are looking at a very specific device with certain chips embedded in – and those devices (generally) don’t sell in volume…
So the state of Mobile TV today, especially in the current financial turmoil doesn’t look too hot – with it’s high cost barrier-to-entry, and somewhat of a chicken-and-egg situation with Operators/networks and devices, thing have definitely been more rosy. Let’s see what the next six months brings…