12% Willing to Pay Extra to Watch TV on Cell Phones

PhoneMag.com covers a new report from Strategy Analytics, which concludes that MobiTV on Sprint TV Live is the highest rated Mobile TV service in the USA, with a five point performance gap over Verizon Wireless’ VCAST. The results are based on hands-on consumer testing.

The report found that "VCAST was rated 22 percent higher than MobiTV for Audiovisual Quality," but the majority of consumers were willing "to sacrifice video quality for access to real-time streaming of “live” TV. Also, users perceived that MobiTV service offers more preferred content from trusted TV channel brands than VCAST."

Kevin Nolan at Strategy Analytics said, "While most consumers found the streaming quality and frame rates so poor that they would only consider watching Mobile TV services for short periods at a time, they valued Mobile TV services for access to fast-breaking news and up-to-date information while on the move. For this reason users found Sprint’s live MobiTV offering more appealing than the pre-recorded ‘made for mobile’ clips offered by VCAST.”

David Kerr at Strategy Analytics added, "1 in 8 US cellphone users would pay $10 per month for unlimited TV access via mobile phone. However, potential users are acutely aware of the limitations of the current generation cellular TV offerings in terms of access/download speed, audiovisual quality, and impact on battery life. Until operators address these limitations, they will be unable to fully monetize the potential of TV services via the cellular network."

The fours "Cs" are critical - content, convenience and cost all in the right context....