One More Time: Mobile TV Is a Tough Sell to Everyone

[Commentary] Don't get me started. When news hit last week that a consortium of broadcasters planned to equip 20 major markets to service mobile digital TV, commentators reiterated that old dream of "TV in your hand." The Mobile Content Venture claims it will cover almost 40% of the U.S. population with free-to-consumer digital channels to their phones by the end of 2011. As someone who has tested and covered the jagged, mostly unsuccessful roll-out of live mobile TV service for several years, who has had this capability on a number of review phones I have covered around for months at a time, all I can say is -- good luck with that. There are a number of sheer business hurdles to overcome. Foremost, how do you get the hardware OEMs and carriers on board a scheme that potentially takes user attention and potential revenue away from their core businesses of voice and data? If free mobile TV is going to be driven by advertising and the mobile phone platform will be its transportation device, then carriers will need a sizable cut of this.