Full-length shows, even movies, growing on cellular
Cell phone providers offer TV shows and even movies.
— -- Forget short clips and "mobisodes." Cellphone providers are ramping up their full-episode TV offerings, from Lost to The Office, and even movies.
And the viewing experience on your phone is improving to near-broadcast-quality video (though tiny) that you can watch while waiting for the bus or in between meetings. "I definitely see it growing, especially here in the USA where, let's face it, we Americans like our video," says Forrester Research's Charles Golvin.
Today, only about 7% of mobile subscribers (cell and data) watch video on their phones, he says. But the industry is poised for major growth: Mobile video revenues at domestic carriers jumped to $308 million in the last three months of 2007 from $112 million in the same period a year earlier, according to Nielsen Mobile.
"If the pricing is reasonable, the experience is good and the selection of content is robust enough (and) it really behaves like TV, you're going to see wide adoption," Golvin says.
The latest cell provider to upgrade its television viewing options is AT&T; its live Mobile TV service launches next month with channels from CBS, Fox, NBC, Comedy Central, ESPN, MTV and Nickelodeon. AT&T customers who get one of two new phones capable of receiving the service — the LG Vu and the Samsung Access (no prices yet on phones or subscription costs) — will be able to watch full-length episodes of shows such as Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Entourage and 30 Rock. AT&T Mobile TV users also can tune in to PIX, a new movie channel from Sony Pictures that will air movies such as Bugsy, Ghostbusters, The Karate Kid and Groundhog Day.
The AT&T/Sony channel is not the first movie-cell connection. Sprint began making movies available on demand in September 2006. Earlier this month, Warner joined Sony, Paramount, Disney and Lionsgate with movies on the provider's network. "Everyone is really, really skeptical about who would want to watch movies on a little cellphone, but we are very pleasantly surprised," says Disney's Ron Schonfeld. "We entered it initially as an experiment, but we're seeing it's a real business."
Asked whether he ever thought he would see TV and movies on cellphones, 22-year industry veteran Mark Collins, vice president of consumer data at AT&T's wireless unit, says, "With networks and content distribution and devices evolving the way they are, and customers' never-ending desire for wireless experiences, nothing surprises me today."
