TelcoTV: Ads not mobile TV’s savior, MobiTV president says

Even in a lackluster market for mobile TV, MobiTV’s global unicast TV network reached the 4 million consumer mark back in August and now includes 5 million actual paying subscribers, Scanlan said. The company operates on eight guiding principles, to which he attributes the success. Scanlan described these as discovery through ubiquitous access to the product, launching the service from where it left off, personalization, engagement, connection on any device, awareness of subscriber demographics and, of course, getting a return – the key to mobile TV’s success.

“One of our philosophies at MobiTV is the experience as the product, not the technology,” Scanlan said. “We are a technology company with a deep core of technologists, but it’s the technology plus the features creating the experience. It’s not one of those things by itself.”

In general, mobile TV services, especially unicast, are finally starting to gain traction in the US after initial slow growth and a few false starts. More carriers are offering subscription video services over their 3G networks and content providers are allowing more premium content onto the wireless deck. At the same time, video-enabled handsets are on the rise, increasing the potential customer base. Other mobile TV services, including that supported by the Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC), a potential MobiTV partner, are also getting off the ground with successful trials completed by local broadcasters. At this week’s show, Envivio also showcased MPEG-4 video over PCs and mobile phones, following its announcement that its 4Caster C4 Encoder for MPEG-4 video passed Microsoft Mediaroom’s conformance testing.