The dawn of mobileTV is upon us with Verizon Wireless launching their new vCast service, and AT&T not too far behind. Unlike past mobile wireless video offerings which offered video clips, these new services allow viewing of broadcast TV from the likes of CBS, Comedy Central, Fox, MTV, NBC News and others. Carriers and the vendors providing the infrastructure are making a high risk bet that consumers will want to watch television on a cell phone. Qualcomm has committed $800 million towards MediaFLO, the platform being used by both Verizon and AT&T, alone. But that is surely a down payment on a multi billion dollar investment.
Some are even predicting that mobileTV can put a dent in the traditional home subscription pay TV (cable TV, IPTV, DBS, etc.) model – why pay for cable TV, when I can get it on my cell phone and beam it to my TV. It is certainly too early to tell, but we are now witnessing yet another potential disruptive force provided by wireless.
Read this revealing Business Week article for more details …
