Watching TV shows on cell phones is moving out of the testing stage, but it has not yet hit prime time. Most cell phone makers sell handsets with TV capability. The big service carriers offer some form of service. But few people are signing up for it.
The big hurdle isn't the small size of cell phone screens, most analysts say. New technologies ensure high-quality TV reception even on tiny screens.
True fans of sports, news, soap operas or similar content won't be stopped by a small screen. The big problem, analysts say, is people aren't yet willing to pay for TV on cell phones. That's slowing a potentially big market for makers of cell phone TV chips. People were excited about it - until they learned they had to pay for it according to Texas Instruments TXN.
Service providers charge $20 or more a month for TV on cell phones. That's on top of existing fees. And that's not the only drawback to TV service via cell phone. There are a lack of shows for the format. There are some
competing technical standards that confuse users. Yet, analysts say that eventually all cell phones will come equipped with the ability to show TV programs.
That's far from the case now. Research firm iSuppli forecasts sales of just 11.5 million TV-enabled cell phones this year. That's about 1% of the 1.1 billion cell phones iSuppli forecasts will be sold.
TI is the biggest cell phone chipmaker and, along with Qualcomm, the biggest seller of cell phone TV chips, says iSuppli. In 2006, it sold about $5 billion in cell phone receiver chips, more than a third of its $14.25
billion total revenue. The company doesn't break out its sales of cell phone TV chips.
Because users haven't been clamoring for it, service providers such as Verizon Wireless and AT&T T haven't been moving quickly to implement TV on cell phones. It seems that the market is off to a slower-than-expected
start.
(Source cellular-news.com)
