You mean like the same change in consumer behavior towards that happened in radio? :)

The comparison is fair indeed given the adoption and use of the Watchman by asian consumers, and today’s adoption and use of mobile tv by asian consumers. How could you not make this comparison, especially when asian mobile tv adoption is typically the investment benchmark for US mobile tv?

The mobile tv market that you’re referencing, one which parallels broadcast television is the same market that Sling Media pursues. The Sling Box replicates broadcast television exactly, however Sling Media has had modest success at best.

The correct consumer consumption model for entertainment is one that integrates all entertainment media consumed per day, regardless of entertainment format. This said, mobile tv does not provide any advantage over broadcast television on a large flat screen television. Nor does mobile tv provide any “shared experience” value unlike broadcast television, social networking, video gaming, etc. Hence, mobile tv is an individual and isolated experience. Mobile tv is niche at best, or at least until their is a sea change in consumer behavior towards individualism, which of course could happen. Don’t bet on it. ;-)

Current ones are doing Just Fine and there is - perhaps room for no more, unless something life-saving comes onto play :-O

The last Watchman came out in 1990. I hardly think it’s fair to compare consumers of the 80’s with those of today.

Second, there is most certainly a market here, it’s just a question of delivering a service that fits consumers’ needs in terms of price and quality. Why is there a market? Because people have periods everyday when they are not near a TV, but would watch one if they had access to it.

In this sense, I think replicating broadcast TV on the phone is key to jump starting this business. Putting users in the mindset that the programming is the same on the same time schedule will remove a significant marketing burden for this service.

I happen to think that you have the right opinion on this market opportunity, at least here in the US. What’s of particular interest, is Sony’s failure marketing its’ Watchman TV handhelds back in the early 90’s. The Watchman was a huge failure here despite being a runaway success throughout Asia. I think American’s are accustomed to super sized TV viewing and therefore prefer it. The current market for mobile TV runs in stark contrast to the successful and growing market for large flat screen televisions.

I don’t believe mobile TV will grow beyond a small niche market here in the US.