[opendtv] Re: The Boldest Dumb Idea I've Ever Seen

I would never watch a video on a tinny/tiny screen, but I'm sure that there are 
teens who can be enticed to pester their well-off parents to pay for them to 
watch Shakira shake her booty....but at what additional cost....esp compared to 
"free" pre-downloaded video...
A mini-van owner needs the ability to play the same WIGGLES videos over and 
over and over again...wait, they have that already....and don't need the 
distraction of trying to order up the latest video release while strapping in 
the kidz....and certainly not while driving...  

What would be useful is to transfer video programs from the HTPC/DVR/DVD to the 
car--but that's a memory card or wireless transfer and not MediaFlo's forte...

MediaFlo could continually download popular movies/music with their Single Freq 
Network....to a server in your car, to HTPCs...look out Moviebeam...but please 
not to my tinny/tiny cellphone...

And of course maps and live traffic update info for the CarNav--which needs a 
built-in 7+ inch screen.

Nav info could be built into a cellphone to get around an unfamiliar city 
(niche market)....but how useful is a tiny screen when you are lost...

So what does that leave for handheld TVs besides email, directory service, 
tinny/tiny music videos and maybe movie skeds....
Sport stats while you watch live sports events???  Live sports replays????   
Gotta get a much bigger phone----or a video headset...or simply watch the 
jumbotron after the batts give out...

The killer unfulfilled cellphone app is still live, nationwide (worldwide) 
video phone--for both handhold cellphones and HDTVs...unfortunately, all this 
mobile TV one-way nonsense is detracting from providing something useful to the 
everyday user.

holl_ands

=============================================
John Willkie <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Hey, I agree with both of you, 
but I think the scale -- after the first few months -- is more like 1% of 
suitablly-equipped cell phone users watching mobile video 1% of the time.  
Others say I'm being too optimistic.   

Let's see, the average American pays about $35 per month to watch TV 200 hours 
per month (with cable, or pays nothing otherwise.)  They'll pay ____ per ___ to 
watch mobile video for ____ hours per month.  This is a new way of looking at 
the spreadsheet I provided years back.

How much money would you put into it?  What would be the spt between content 
creation and infrastructure?

I like the ubiquity concept as well, but it has little or nothing to do with 
this model, at least in this phase.  Use it to send push news alerts, sure.  
That isn't in the current models.  Use it to send live traffic information (and 
even suggested drive-arounds) during busy traffic hours, sure.  Use it for 
podcasts, sure.

All of the above can be done just as well with existing (DVB-T, ISDB-T, ATSC) 
broadcast or wireless technology.

I can't wait until Nielsen works out it's issues and begins reporting usage. Be 
even nicer if -- unlike cable ratings vis a vis broadcast -- one can make an 
apples versus apples comparision.  DRM'ed mobile video CAN have more accurate 
numbers than broadcast, due to the system's intrinsic ability to track usage 
directly.

John 
------
Quoting Mark Aitken:

And I agree with Mark!

Regards, the other Mark
...well, one of many others...

Quoting Mark Schubin :

> John Willkie wrote:
> > The pitch for broadcasters was that MediaFLO could be a new source 
> > of
> revenue for broadcasters.
> >   
> 
> > I recently read of a survey where 80 per cent of the people with
> video-enabled cell phones said they'd never use the service: and that 
> was without regard to the cost.
> >   
> 
> 
> I see no conflict between those two statements.  I'm not a fan of 
> mobile-phone video myself, but I think even just 1% of mobile-phone 
> users watching video can be a significant revenue source.
> 
> TTFN,
> Mark
> 

                
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