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Here Comes the TV Phone

It's easy to be skeptical about TV on mobile phones. Jerky pictures. Lousy screens. Forgettable content. That's about to change.

Michael Stroud
01.13.05

I don't say that lightly. Declaring that TV on cell phones is here strains credibility. I'm aware that a lot of European carriers lost their shirts on WAP a few years ago after claiming they'd delivered internet-on-a-handset to their customers. Nevertheless, I contend that a series of wireless TV offerings, highlighted by the launch of Verizon's Vcast video service on February 1, is going to make TV a viable form of content on mobile phones.

I've been playing around with Verizon's new LGVX8000 handset since CES and I've become a believer. You can watch CNN, Fox Sports and E! Entertainment on your mobile phone now, and it looks pretty damn good. My first experience was in my hotel in Vegas, watching Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas campaign to cheering crowds on the West Bank. The screen was so clear that I could make out the caption under the Hamas fighter CNN interviewed.

Did it take too long to load up? Yes. Was the buffering annoying? Yes. Will it catch on? Absolutely.

These, after all, were exactly the same problems that video on the internet faced a few years ago—and to an extent still faces. Yet today, your mother routinely calls up her favorite news reports on the internet.

Mobile TV could be much bigger than desktop video. First, there are many times more cell phones than PCs in the world. Second, people will use it exactly the way I did: when they've got a few minutes to kill while they're on the run. Third, and perhaps most importantly, mobile carriers are desperate to bring video to customers. They spent billions of dollars upgrading their networks, and voice traffic alone isn't going to pay the bills. People will pay premiums for video, just like they pay premiums for ringtones and games.

Verizon's VCast system will use the same wireless broadband backbone (EVDO) that Verizon customers in some major metropolitan areas use to access the internet at 300 to 500 kilobits per second. Customers with special phones like the LG that I tested will see video at about 15 frames a second—half the rate of conventional TV, but as good as many cable modems and DSL connections. In the months ahead, Verizon will roll out other devices capable of using the service, which will cost about $15 a month.

At launch, you'll be able to access channels like CNN, NBC, CBS MarketWatch, E! Entertainment, a comedy channel called Just for Laughs, Sesame Street, Fox Sports, ESPN, and a weather channel. MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, and Sports Illustrated Model Search are in the works. The services will all be short clips of video, not long-form programming.

"A mobile device is not the place for a 30-minute show," said Alex Bloom, Verizon's associate director of programming. "I don't think people have the time or the patience."

In fairness, Sprint says it's been offering 15-frames-a-second video on selected phones since August, even though it won't offer 300 kps to 500 kps service until mid-year.

"The speed of the network is not the only thing that determines the quality of the video," said Sprint spokeswoman Mary Nell Westbrook. "Welcome to the party, Verizon."

Sprint and AT&T Wireless/Cingular offer more than 20 stations of mobile phone TV through services called MobiTV and 1KTV. Most phones, however, can only access the video at about one frame a second.

Studios like Sony, Fox, and Disney are pulling out the stops to supply video programming to the carriers. "It becomes hugely important for us this year," said Sony Pictures Digital Senior Vice President Michael Arrieta. According to Arrieta, the Sony unit wants to make made-for-mobile programming and featurettes, as well as repurpose Sony properties old and new—from classic films in recently acquired MGM Studios to SpiderMan 3.

Does all this mean that TV on mobile phones is going to suddenly start generating huge revenue for carriers and studios? Of course not. Like all consumer electronics innovations, the early adopters will grab the first phones that can display high-quality TV. The rest of the public will begin to get serious about watching TV on their phones over the next year.

If you doubt a consumer electronics trend can move that quickly, consider this: cameras on mobile phones were still conversation pieces in Christmas 2003. By last Christmas, sales surpassed those of dedicated digital cameras.

So practice shooting video on that new phone you got for Christmas. Next year, you may be catching the Super Bowl.

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