September 30, 2005
Mobile TV's Business Case Yet To Be Proven
According to Digital-Lifestyles.info, "after two days of debate, mobile TV's leading players can't agree a way forward for the technology. London's Mobile TV show closed its doors leaving more questions than answers:
-- Claire Tavernier, Freemantle Media, thought it most likely that content producers would launch their own channels rather than go with pay-per-view clips or advertiser-funded models.
-- Hyacinth Nwana, speaking for Arqiva, and Jeremy Wright of Enpocket, both saw advertiser funded content - whether programming or entertaining video ‘spots' - to be the key driver.
-- Riccardo Donato, Channel 4, said the broadcaster was hedging its bets, with branded content available via both mobile operators' portals and Channel 4's own ‘off-portal' wap site.
-- Eirik Solheim of Finnish state broadcaster NRK, (pictured above left) said their mobile TV trials had seen some success with pay-per-view.
-- BT Livetime's Emma Lloyd, whose ongoing trials with Virgin Mobile and Digital One started in July, said peak consumption came when participants travelled to and from work (not surprisingly). Users were watching an average 10-15 minutes per sessions.
It was revelaing that throughout a day filled with many case studies, not a single speaker would reveal revenue figures.
Clearly it's early days in this fledgling industry, but with such shyness of the financials, it doesn't bode well".
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