LONDON: Mobile television is a dead concept walking. That’s the gist of an Euro-based article from Reuters, in which industry analysts say smartphone apps are already displacing the nascent service. John Strand, described as a 12-year media consultant, called mobile broadcast television “a financial disaster,” and said consumers would not pay for it. Though the U.S. broadcast model is for a free service, the Reuters piece mentions the various ways video is already accessible via smartphones and some legacy phones. BBC World and Al Jazeera English, for example, have launched apps in the United Kingdom making their content available in real time on cell phones.
Projections for the emerging mobile TV business are said to be diminishing as well. The piece quoted numbers from Strategy Analytics saying the mobile TV broadcast market would reach $280 million next year, compared to the $5.4 billion that was predicted three years back.
“We’ve downgraded our forecast a fair bit to reflect the slower-than-anticipated rollout of services and limited momentum from carriers and broadcasters,” Strategy Analytics analyst Nitesh Patel told Reuters. “Application and widget stores and mobile internet access have taken priority over mobile broadcast.”
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