California is sprinkled with television studios, and while many of the traditional Hollywood studios already have or are in the process of creating separate divisions for endeavors in the mobile TV space, a small group of entertainment companies have been built with mobile in mind from day one. GoTV Networks Inc., MobiTV Inc. and Amp’d Mobile Inc. are three California-based media companies that are making their mark in this emerging industry while many are scrambling to target the mobile audience, which is fast becoming the next battlefield in media.
The future of mobile television is clearly at a crossroads-indeed, it may require a level of self-imposed directive on the part of studios before large swaths of consumers warm to the idea of watching TV on a small screen at a price that sustains the new medium. While the category continues to be built and driven by competing technologies, the unknown factor is further evidenced by the fact that the nation’s two largest carriers continue to offer mobile TV applications via their networks while each plans to launch broadcast mobile TV via a third-party’s network.
The breakdown
There are at least two groups of thought and each point to stacks of marketing research that validates their business strategies. The questions run the gamut. Do consumers want live TV that mirrors what they watch at home, albeit a more limited channel selection, or do they want video-on-demand offerings that many viewers have already welcomed with open arms at home? At this point in the game many believe there is room for both.
But what differentiates the studios creating the content for the mobile screen breaks down to square one in the process. Some of the traditional TV studios believe their televised content is what’s brought them the success they currently enjoy and that it does not make sense to re-create those offerings for mobile. Others are betting on the fact that viewers who enjoy their programming will be more interested in short-form storylines created and produced exclusively for mobile that run alongside certain shows and introduce side plots.
Each studio is unique in how it approaches the mobile medium. The stream is quickly becoming a two-way flow of ideas and information.
Amp’d: Not just an MVNO
“We think like a media company . it just happens that wireless is our form of distribution,” Amp’d CEO Peter Adderton said in a recent interview with RCR Wireless News. “The big wireless companies need to go down this path, but I don’t think they can do it.” Amp’d recently landed a deal to debut six episodes of its in-house created series “Lil’ Bush: Resident of the United States” on Comedy Central this summer. Amp’d is also discussing options with Qualcomm Inc.’s MediaFLO division and DVB-H providers Aloha Partners L.P.’s HiWire and Crown Castle International Corp.’s Modeo L.L.C., pointing out that nothing prevents its content from being distributed online, via other wireless carriers or traditional television.
The company’s music and video production studios in Los Angeles have led to the creation of 25 original shows and there are plans to grow that offering to 35 by the end of the year, said Amp’d executive Seth Cummings. Incredibly successful talent such as Howard Gordon, the executive producer of the Fox hits “24” and “The X files,” and Donick Cary, a former writer for “The Simpsons” and “Late Show with David Letterman,” have come on board because Amp’d gives them a blank slate and affords them the freedom and resources to create content as they envision it-something unheard of in most Hollywood circles, Cummings said. The company has also brought in numerous recording artists, ranging from Silversun Pickups to Snoop Dogg, to perform their songs live in the studio for video and audio.
While many in the industry refer to Amp’d as a mobile virtual network operator-indeed its offering runs over Verizon Wireless’ network, its MVNO business has quickly become secondary to producing exclusive content for mobile. “I don’t wake up in the morning and think about how many phones we sold at 7-Eleven,” Adderton said. He’s more interested in how many videos and music tracks were downloaded. “It’s semi-frustrating that we get pegged into this hall,” he said, adding that the end goal is to build Amp’d up as a new media company. “Every media company out their today is on a defensive strategy,” he said. “We’re on the offensive. We have nothing to protect. This is why the industry doesn’t grow; people are pushing them back.” His is a mindset that rings true throughout Amp’d headquarters. “Everybody’s talking about what they’re going to do . no one’s talking about what they’re doing now,” Amp’d President Bill Stone said. “The media companies have really been lost in the same business model for the last 40 years.”
MobiTV: Early entrant
MobiTV, which was founded in 1999 in Emeryville, Calif., has taken a much different approach to its mobile TV service. The company, which sits at a noticeable distance from television studios in the greater Los Angeles area, focuses entirely on aggregating and re-packaging licensed content to distribute via its service over carrier networks. Described as a “baby of the Internet boom,” MobiTV CEO, Chairman Philip Alvelda said the company not only developed the service on which its content runs, but also landed license agreements with TV and radio networks to expand its programming. While some companies had already put together video clips for the mobile screen, Alvelda claims MobiTV was the first company to offer mobile television over cellular networks soon after carrier interest grew in 2002.
Some eyebrows are still raised over the future of MobiTV’s success as much of the industry puts its focus on emerging technologies in mobile television, but Alvelda says his company is prepared to weather the storm. “We’re the champions of whatever is working now. And at the same time we’re prepared for whatever networks might emerge in the future. We’ll take the initiative well ahead of the wave and make sure that technology is ready to go.” The company doesn’t fall short on motivation either. It recently surpassed 2 million paid subscribers worldwide.
Nonetheless, Alvelda says he’s unsure of the long-term potential for broadcast mobile TV. “I’d say the unidirectional broadcast companies in some ways are kind of refining a 75-year-old technology that is somewhat obsolete. You need a two-way interactive medium,” he said. “They’ve developed a solution for a problem that doesn’t really exist,” he said of his competitors in MediaFLO and DVB-H, adding that he believes “there’s more than enough capacity” to broadcast television over carrier networks. “The proof is that our carriers are bundling the service with every phone and they’re not stupid,” he said. Live breaking news and entertainment have consistently been its most popular programming. Now the company is looking beyond the mobile screen as it eyes more deals like its recently formed partnership with AT&T Inc. to deliver live TV and video-on-demand services to broadband users.
GoTV: A mixed bag
GoTV Networks is similar in that it aggregates licensed content from TV networks, but it also focuses heavily on creating its own shows targeted to pique viewers’ appetite for mobile television. The company is constantly producing made-for-mobile content in-house with on-air talent that will do everything from read the news to interview celebrities and plug programming in a quick, introductive clip.
The company has put together a team of on-air personalities that appeal to each of its channels, which includes hip-hop music, alternative rock, sports, comedy, fashion and Spanish-based programming.
Recordings occur throughout the day at the studio in Sherman Oaks, Calif. Some channels, such as the sports channel, which offers dozens of shows each week, are updated with fresh content multiple times a day; others are recorded three to five times a week. GoTV is providing content via MediaFLO in the second phase of their trial and intends to offer on-demand content via the network when it launches on Verizon Wireless later this month. The company is beginning to develop made-for-mobile sitcoms.
“The market is a somewhat confused market right now. We’re also in the very early stages,” GoTV Networks CEO David Bluhm said in a recent interview. “The services, user experience, ease of use, the entire out-of-box is going to come a long way.” Bluhm said GoTV Networks has only recently begun to see growth after waiting years for capable devices to get under the $100 price range. Like his competitors, Bluhm is focusing on the youth market.
“We’ve got to know that the mobile experience is a thin medium,” he said. “We can’t tell deep, rich stories. We’ve got to know who (the consumers) are.” He believes there is room for both mobile TV and interactive, made-for-mobile TV to flourish in this market, however he’s less sure of live, broadcast mobile television’s survival. “We think that’s going to come and go,” he said. “We think on-demand will rule.”
