AT&T Launching Mobile TV

AT&T is launching its own mobile TV service, which should provide more pointers for Dish Network, also expected to launch its own service in the future.

AT&T's service requires specific device models costing between $200-$300, a TV-only data plan costing $15 a month (or $30 if a user also wantsWeb browsing). One device not supported is the Apple iPhone, which for many is reason enough not to bother.

It is doubtful AT&T expects much immediate success. Verizon does not seem to have seen healthy uptake for its Vcast service so far.

Qualcomm, which provides the technology to support the Verizon service, says only that so far the service has been a disappointment. Silicon Alley writer Michael Learmonth suggests that
perhaps 1.5 percent, or 820,000 Verizon subscribers, have ever watched TV on their phones.

In Europe, where several operators offer mobile TV, fewer than one percent subscribe.

Analysts at the Yankee Group say five percent of mobile subscribers are actually willing to pay for mobile TV, if the monthly price is $5.

As has been the case for other mobile services, sluggish uptake now does not mean the service never will be significant. Mobile service itself and texting took quite some time to become firmly embedded as a part of consumer behavior, at least in the U.S. market.

Still, some question whether there is much appetite for a limited selection of long-form TV shows in the mobile space. The issue there is whether the preferred delivery mode might not ultimately be some on-demand delivery. Content breadth is more important to users than lots of other attributes.

Right now, that thesis can't be tested as the programming selection is so limited. Only when the variety of programming is about as rich as any typical cable, satellite or telco line-up is can other possible barriers be tested, including price of the handset, price of the subscription and need for dedicated handsets.

And even those attributes can only be truly tested when there's enough ability to download or stream video "over the top."