Rights Firms To Exploit Mobile Video, Even With No Model

[by Mike Butcher @ MIPCOM] Launching WMR at MIPCOM today, chairman Andrew Neil admitted that “the business model for TV on the mobile isn’t proven, “but that a lot of money will be spent trying to find the right model – that’s where WMR and others like it comes in.

He said consumer may not watch the whole of the Spiderman movie on a mobile but “they will watch news clips and sport, and play the Spiderman game. We don’t know. In a way that’s a problem for the 3G operators – they will test the content. There will be a lot of money spent in trial and error – and it all largely depends on the 15 year old mobile user.”

Neil added that the “Video iPod is perfect timing for us. It’s a dramatic move and it will change the TV industry. Our current broadband speeds will be out of date soon. The expansion of broadband will allow a massive expansion of rights. France Telecom can now deliver broadcast TV over telephone lines for instance.”

WMR will have to “fully exploit our first mover advantage. We won’t be the first kid on the block, so we may as well get our retaliation in first. We won’t be alone for long.”

Comments have been disabled for this post