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The Future Of Mobile TV

If you're into college basketball, you can watch March Madness on the boob tube, online, and even on your iPhone now. This got me thinking about how comfortable mobile TV actually is, and will it be as big here as it is in places like Japan. I spoke with Bill Stone, head of FLO TV, about these issues.

Stone is a longtime veteran of the mobile industry, and he used to head up Amp'd Mobile and Handango. He said he took the job with FLO because he believes in the product, the market opportunity, and Qualcomm's ability to continue to invest in the service. But despite billions of dollars in investments by most of the major carriers, mobile TV has yet to catch on with U.S. customers.

"The biggest hurdle is simply awareness: people just don't know you call do all this stuff, and do it well, on a cell phone," said Stone. "I can be anywhere I want and watch whatever I want. I think that's pretty powerful."

One of the main reasons customers have shied away from mobile TV is pricing. Some of these mobile services can cost up to $15 a month, and that is just way too much, particularly in a sluggish economy. Stone said he often gets asked if the future business model of mobile TV is subscription-only or a free service that's ad-supported. He said it's neither.

"When I look at it, we're in the content distribution service . . . and if you look at other players like cable, magazines, or ISPs, there's a mix of subscription and advertising," said Stone. "I don't know why we'd be different."

What needs to be worked out is the advertising rate, and what price point would be satisfying for customers and content producers, Stone said. It's an interesting take on the market, but it may be challenged in a big way as the Open Mobile Video Coalition will have 63 stations providing free, over-the-air programming for mobile devices later this year. While there are no devices capable of playing this yet, this move could spur companies to create phones, in-car entertainment systems, and even video game players to take advantage of it. Stone didn't seem too worried about this potential competitor, though.

"More than anything, it's an opportunity to raise awareness," said Stone. "It's not how you divide up a small pie in 2009, it's how you grow the pie exponentially for everyone over the next 10 years and beyond."

Of course, that's a very diplomatic answer -- and one I'd expect from Stone -- but it does ring true. I'll be keeping an eye on the mobile TV space, so don't worry, it won't be long until you can get your Dollhouse fix on the move.

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