Telstra's mobile TV service put under the spotlight

Updated July 19, 2007 21:53:00

Audio: Telstra launches made for mobile TV (PM)

In an Australian first, people will be able to watch television programs on their mobile phones, but media analysts are questioning the new service's profitability.

Mobile phone users can already watch a form of programming on their mobile phones, but what is new about this service is that programs will be made specifically for mobile phone use.

For a cost, consumers can download TV programs on to their phones to sit and watch on a bus or a train.

Launching the service in Sydney today, BigPond managing director Justin Milne told media and industry representatives that what they produce will depend on what people watch, with an emphasis on Australian content.

"It's not TV, it's not going to replace TV, it's like TV," he said.

"If I can see something on TV then I will because it's on a bigger screen, it's higher definition and it's better quality, the sound's better, all those sorts of things.

"But if I can't see it on TV because I'm out and about but I can see it on my mobile, then that's what I'll do, if it's a piece of content that I'm particularly interested in.

"We are inventing a new medium here and what I earnestly hope is that by giving them some slots and making them available to Australian producers to help us invent this whole short form of TV, that the folks will vote with their feet and they'll buy those shows, and those will become the most popular shows and so we'll produce more of them. That's what I hope."

A 'new media player'

Media and marketing writer for The Australian, Simon Canning, says the new service shows Telstra is positioning itself as a new media player.

"They're running entertainment just the same way that [Channel] 7, Nine and Ten are. They're putting out information, television shows and news just the same way that the ABC is on radio and on TV and on the Internet," he said.

"It's just a delivery channel for them and it's exactly the same sort of stuff that we've grown used to seeing in our lounge room. We're just seeing it on our phones now."

He says what is new about this service is that Australian content will be a key focus.

Already BigPond has signed up to two new Australian programs, commissioned specifically for the mobile network.

"They've already learned very quickly in this space that people's attention spans aren't long," Mr Canning said.

"They're looking to fill in a bit of time while they're waiting for a bus or have some free time on their hands at the doctor's surgery or whatever.

"They don't want people watching stuff for an hour or so. You're not going to watch a full-length movie on this thing, but what you are going to access are bite-sized consumable pieces of entertainment or information.

"You want to catch the news broadcast where you actually see the vision of what's going on. It's probably one of the ways you can do it."

But Mr Canning says Telstra will probably take a loss on this new service in the early days, because they simply do not have the numbers.

"Mobile television, any sort of mobile entertainment of this nature is all about scale and certainly Telstra or any of the other operators for that matter haven't got the scale of people who are willing to sit down on a bus or on a train or in a traffic jam and watch this stuff on a regular basis," he said.

"It will over time create that scale and at that point that's when the advertising industry begins to get interested, and that's when you'll find that the consumers of these sorts of products will no longer actually have to pay for it, because the advertisers will be underwriting it for them, just as they do so for free TV today."

Media analyst Peter Cox agrees that while there is an appetite for this service, it is yet to prove its worth in the market place.

"This is all very experimental at the moment. No-one really knows whether there is a business case to be had here," he said.

"Do people really want to watch television on their little 2-inch screen? These are the big questions that will really be sorted out over the coming year or two."

Topics: telecommunications, business-economics-and-finance, company-news, industry, information-and-communication, mobile-phones, australia

First posted July 19, 2007 21:38:00