Jupiter: Orange's Mobile TV Efforts in France

Thomas Husson posts at the Jupiter Analyst Weblogs about Orange's mobile TV efforts in France. Husson reports Orange is offering 7 new channels for a total of 50 altogether that are "commercially available to 85% of the French population (thanks to a combination of EDGE and 3G coverage)." He compares this with the recently-launched digital terrestrial TV in France, TNT, that only has "14 channels available to 35% of the population!"

Husson digs into Orange's claim on the success of the service:

Orange claims to have the widest offer worldwide and that its customers watched live TV for 19.000 hours in June 2005. Impressive numbers but a rapid calculation gives me an interesting ratio : roughly 7 minutes per 3G subscriber, which amounts probably around 25 minutes for active TV subscribers. Not bad but let's remember the promotion : free and unlimited 24 hours a day, 7 days a week during the first two months...

Husson notes Orange is pushing mobile TV, while competitor SFR (Vodafone) is riding mobile music to differentiate their services and entice consumers to migrate to 3G. It'll be interesting to see which one is the bigger draw or whether a completely different service holds the key for greater customer adoption...