[opendtv] Re: Verizon Updates Mobile TV for LTE
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2012 21:51:14 -0400
At 6:22 PM -0500 6/17/12, Manfredi, Albert E wrote:
This article is almost 1 year old, so things might have changed some
in the interim.
Nevertheless, it seems to me that the wireless telcos are each
working hard to develop their own TV walled gardens. Even with the
common LTE modulation they are all migrating to, there's no apparent
interest in unwalling any of this.
The walls have already crumbled. There is nothing they can do to
prevent data subscribers from using ANY online portal/streaming
service. And there is little reason to believe that a Verizon
subscription TV service will fare any better than FloTV. Consumers
have shown almost no interest in paying for another subscription TV
service for mobile devices.
The article does point out that AT&T is offering its U-Verse
subscribers a service that mirrors their home TV service along with
the ability to control the STB in the home. This parallels what the
MVPDs are doing - allowing access to TV content online if you
subscribe to the MVPD service at home.
I strongly believe this is where things are heading - i.e. adding
value to the home TV subscription by providing access to the same
content on wireless devices.
Also, it looks like each one is trying to figure out the proper mix
of live and on demand TV. I have to believe that customers are
getting used to on demand, and that with portable devices, they
won't want to give that up.
I disagree. There is little reason to consume on demand TV on a
mobile device unless you are stuck with nothing to do, like flying
cross country on an airplane. But Internet streaming is mostly
useless without connectivity. The obvious solution is to download the
content BEFORE you get on the plane.
But people do want to see live events - especially sports - when
they are away from the TV in the family room. There is significant
potential for delivering live events to mobile devices.
So my guess is, what TV broadcasters want to do is to provide the
live stream portion of the cellco offerings, much like Qualcomm's
MediaFLO a few years into its tenure, for Verizon Wireless and AT&T
Mobility. And my guess is, it would be easier to convince the
wireless telcos to go for this partnership, if the service were
transmitted as LTE broadcast/multicast, rather than ATSC/MH.
I generally agree here, especially the part about LTE versus ATSC/MH.
I doubt that they will need help from the telcos, however, or they
will only provide live streams. Pushing content to mobile devices for
viewing later will be a big app for Broadcast LTE.
Reards
Craig
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