Mobile TV, Are You Watching?
The range of tools and technological innovations that at first glance seemed completely obsolete (Twitter, anyone?) and now play a significant role in many peoples’ lives is staggering. If you get down to it, humanity is a great collection of skeptics—why watch moving pictures when you’ve got the radio?
In an age when online advertisers are increasingly claiming that TV is dead and online video is the new way of consuming entertainment, mobile devices are emerging from the backseat and trying to make their claim for the new age of entertainment. The New York Times recently had an article in its Media & Advertising section about an up and coming European sensation for watching TV on the phone that seems to be coming to the U.S. (as most great things do!).
According to the article, consumers in Italy, Switzerland and Japan are already hooked on watching a bevy of channels available for streaming on mobile devices and U.S. mobile providers seem to be eager to follow. Naturally, not everyone is sold on the idea of watching long-form content on a small screen, but the future remains to be seen. AT&T Wireless just announced AT&T Mobile TV in the United States, offering a 10-channel service which will sell for $15 per month and, according to the article, includes a Sony Pictures movie channel called Pix.
To watch? Consumers will have to purchase a cellphone made by LG Electronics and Samsung that streams the broadcasts. All of this innovation begs the question—are you willing to pay and watch? Yankee Group analyst Linda Barrabee suggests that adoption is likely to be slow. But, the rise of devices like the iPhone and increased mobility among consumers seem to suggest that watching TV on your phone may not be in the distant future. Perhaps one day, fifty years down the road, generations of mobile TV watchers will be asking: Why do I need to sit on my couch to watch something?
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