[Air-l] Mobile TV

[Heidelberg, Chris]

Shani:

I am a weird combination of film/tv producer and public relations
consultant/writer who is a podcasting and content manager for a U.S.
civil agency.
My dissertation is examining mobile TV and gaming.

James Gee is a good start on the power of gaming. However, Sprint/Nextel
which is located in the DC area has embraced mobile TV and so has
Verizon in the United States. My research indicates that South Korea and
Japan along with the UK have some of the best mobicasts. The U.S. is a
major content creator but the telecomms, entertainment companies,
software firms and electronics makers are spending too much time suing
themselves and their customers to really develop this type of
programming. However, the new iTunes phones from Cingular allows the
downloading of only 100 songs but I am not sure how many television
shows one can download. Many of the new Motorola phones and Verizon
phones; however, have Windows Media which will allow one to watch
television via phones.  This is a new area but the pending telecom deal
between AT&T and Bell South will actually speed up the process of
television by phone because the new AT&T and Bell South own Cingular
jointly and can provide this service. Verizon is already providing cable
service in the Washington area. The real war for viewers is the
telecomms versus the cable companies. The winner of this battle will
take control of the satellite industry and battle with Google,
Microsoft, Yahoo and Apple for eyeballs.  Apple controls handhelds
currently with its popular iPods and iTunes music store. The music
industry is trying to charge higher prices but Apple has held the line
on prices (.99 U.S. for music and $1.99 for television and films). Apple
chair Steve Jobs called the industry greedy several months ago and now
there is a legal investigation of the music industry again. They lost
the last time and settled for alleged payola and other offenses. Apple
is the key. If Apple develops a cell phone with larger capacities, this
industry will flourish. There are rumors that a new phone iPod with
heavier storage will be available by years end. However, its competitors
and allies like Motorola are utilizing Windows so that they can sell
more phones. Apple wants people to buy more of its PC's hence they have
switched to Intel chips and they want people to connect their phones to
laptops. Its competitors charge $1.99 for a computer free download to
the phone directly which is where Apple may be forced to go.
Remember, Apple just had its 1 billionth download a week ago so it is
still the leader. If you find some good things send them my way. Thanks!
You just got the quick abbreviated version.

Chris Heidelberg
PhD Student
Morgan State University
Chris.Heidelberg at ssa.gov

-----Original Message-----
From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
[mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of
S.S.Orgad at lse.ac.uk
Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 7:58 AM
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Subject: [Air-l] Mobile TV

I am seeking recommendations for readings on mobile TV. This may seem
slightly off-topic, as this is not a directly Internet-related topic.
However, with the increasing trend towards the convergence of
technology, it becomes harder to make a distinction between Internet and
new media and so I believe this is not that off-topic after all and may
be of interest to others on the list.  

If you've come across interesting studies on early adopters, interviews
with people in the industry or anything you think may be relevant, I'd
be grateful if you could email me your recommendations offlist and I
will post a summary to the list.

Thanks for your help, 

Shani

**********************************
Shani Orgad, PhD
Department of Media and Communications
London School of Economics and Political Science Houghton Street London
WC2A 2AE United Kingdom
e-mail: s.s.orgad at lse.ac.uk
tel: +44 20 79556493
fax: +44 20 79557248
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/media@lse/whosWho/shaniorgad
<http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/media@lse/whosWho/shaniorgad>