MWC: Mobile TV gets a mixed report card

“There are mobile devices that are designed more around video type services,” Bennington said. “The classic example is the iPhone, which has a bigger screen that designed for things like video, but is not also something that is architectured around mobile broadcast TV. There are these ‘tweener devices that have larger screens that people can buy…but there still is a valid question: Even if I have a nice big screen and a solid network connection, am I willing to pay ‘x’ dollars a month to have TV on my mobile device?”

Bennington added that the industry still needs to sort out how much of the lack of adoption is related to demographic issues versus demand issues versus technical issues. The increase in ex-users is accounted for by a combination of all these shortcomings from the operator side and the customer side of the coin.

“This is a service that is still new, and operators are wrestling with it and consumers are debating it,” Bennington said. “So, you always have your early adopters that think it is a cool technology and are willing to pay for it and use it, and then there’s this big gray area of people who could potentially use if it they think they are getting the value for their money and the right end-user experience, enough channels and things like that. And then there these people that don’t adopt it. There’s that middle area where some of the churn could be high.”

Churn could be result of customers who tried the service and decided there wasn’t enough value for the money, so they dropped it all together, or from customers who liked the service but went to another operator or source of video. Conversely, customer churn could also just be a byproduct of the competitive environment, Bennington said. The quality of mobile streaming video still leaves a lot to be desired. Combined with small screens, low bandwidth and a lack of interactivity, the service still needs work.

“Those are all the potential barriers that could take place, but none of these seem to be insurmountable barriers,” Bennington said. “Generally speaking, wireless operators are eager to find new revenue sources. There is the problem that wireless operators face like wireline operators where the voice service revenue which has been the bread and butter for a long time is flattening or starting to see some decline, so they need to supplement that with new things. Mobile video is a great possibility for supplementing that if they can get the right product to the customer and the right price point and the right user experience.”