Disappointing Start For Mobile TV

It has been a disappointing start for mobile television, with take-up of the platform less than expected and broadcasters seemingly disillusioned with mobile operators. This was one of the themes at yesterday’s MediaTel Group seminar on the ‘Future of TV’.

Panellist Peter Cowley, managing director of digital media at Endemol UK, said that Endemol had been “very disappointed with mobile as a content consumption device” having had quite high hopes for the platform.

He added that the level of sophistication which had been expected to arrive and thus enable TV viewing to be a straightforward pastime had not occurred.

“Certainly we haven’t seen enough evidence yet to show it’s a mass market consumer device for content. I think we have been failed by the mobile operators,” he said.

Ease of use also cropped up in the discussion, with several people noting that devices such as the Apple iPod, which was designed to show video, have a much more intuitive user interface than most mobile phones used for viewing shows or clips.

It was clear to Cowley that mobile operators have “missed a turn” and that although this could change over the next five years, mobile TV is still very low down on operators’ list of priorities.

Fellow panelist Niku Banaie, managing partner at Naked, said that data transfer could be one of the problems holding the platform back.

Banaie said that mobiles struggle to cope with transferring large amounts of data – unlike iPods, where viewers are able to transfer heavy files from a Mac or PC straight to the device – meaning that it is harder for people to watch video on their phones.

However, he added that this might change when quicker Wi-Fi networks are more prevalent, although this does not look likely in the next couple of years.

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