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Hello, Cellphone? YouTube Calling
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"There's still a majority of the wireless subscriber base that is still uninformed about mobile TV service; right now, I think the biggest barrier is consumer awareness," said Ray Derenzo, vice president of business development for MobiTV, a subscription service that delivers broadcast television to subscribers of Cingular Wireless and Sprint Nextel.
In the past 18 months, carriers and major media brands have shown keen interest in experimenting with mobile formatting, in part to test the waters to make sure the technology actually works, Derenzo said.
Faster technology is also in the works.
Sprint is experimenting with a speedier transmission technology called WiMax. And Verizon Wireless plans early next year to launch mobile video technology made by Qualcomm that will broadcast video clearer and faster.
Although relatively few phone users view video on their small screens, video is contributing a large part of the $15 billion in annual revenue that carriers are collecting from data services, Entner said. The revenue is why carriers keep casting around for more video services to expand their appeal. "They're trying to fill the channel with more and more -- they need to expand the lineup," he said.
That is the goal for YouTube's mobile service, which will start in early December and create a new video channel for V Cast subscribers. Verizon Wireless launched V Cast in February 2005 with specially produced episodes of soap operas and a one-minute spinoff of the hit TV show "24." While the company does not disclose the number of V Cast subscribers, 20 million Verizon Wireless subscribers now have video-capable phones, a significant number of whom pay $15 a month to access V Cast, said Robin Chan, associate director of marketing for the carrier.
The YouTube deal is exclusive to Verizon Wireless for an unspecified length of time. Wireless phones are already important to YouTube, because many people use them to record and post videos to the site, said Steve Chen, co-founder and chief technology officer of YouTube, which was purchased last month by Google. "We don't want to be restricted to the desktop," Chen added.
Analysts say the pricing of mobile video ultimately will affect its future. Over time, carriers are likely to turn to advertising to subsidize it or will lower prices to about $10 a month to get more people to sign up, Entner said.
"In five years, it will be standard," he predicted.
