Now we have written about Mobile TV quite extensively, but this quote just sums it up nicely.
“Everybody thinks mobile TV is a great idea, but when it’s time to get out the chequebook everyone starts to look at each other,” Peter MacAvock, executive director of industry body DVB Project.
Thanks to rich old guys who like to squint and watch video on tiny screens, a handful of companies like MobiTV, which are letting people get TV over cellular data and Wi-Fi seem to be doing well… and I say seem, because they are still private and their financial information is still under lock and key. (via)
To me, Mobile TV is satellite telephony redux. Basically, it has taken so long to get here that it is already largely irrelevant. A dedicated network, radio, and processor for video make good technical sense from a battery/bandwidth conservation standpoint, but in the meantime what can be done using a general purpose mobile CPU and a 3G/WiFi/WiMAX connection continues to improve to the degree that the benefits of dedicated hardware fall into the realm of diminishing returns. If DVB-H or MediaFLO had made a serious debut even 18 months ago, fine, but next year is already too late.
Now MobiTV is in a different boat, as it doesn’t rely on dedicated networks or hardware. The question for them is how do they survive once most devices can run flash and such well enough to make use of YouTube and Joost. Clearly, they don’t and their obvious exit is to be bought by some larger player like Google or Yahoo or even a carrier who wants to try and preserve their walled garden.