Can you have too much television in America?

From The Sunday Times
May 3, 2009

High-tech mobile broadcasting is virtually ignored, while in Europe it's characterised by hype and a confusion of formats

Mark Harris in Seattle - New Tech City

In America, you can never be too thin, too rich or watch too much television. Two-thirds of US households have three or more television sets, and the typical home tunes in for nearly seven hours a day. That sounds like a lot, but broadcasters are already working on the remaining 17 hours with a range of mobile TV services that promise live broadcasts on phones, laptops and in-car screens.

However, Americans are distinctly lukewarm about high-tech mobile broadcasting. If mobile TV in Europe is characterised by hype and a confusion of formats, here it is virtually ignored.

When President Barack Obama announced that the transition from analogue to digital television would be delayed by four months, simultaneously delaying the roll-out of new mobile TV services, the public outcry was, well, non-existent.

Even when Americans do watch TV on their phones, the most popular channels are those showing classic films, with users viewing bite-sized chunks of old favourites rather than trying to follow baseball games or soap operas on a tiny screen.

This apathy is not due to a lack of content, as two of the biggest mobile phone companies already offer a package of subscription news, sports and entertainment channels, while a consortium of broadcasters has announced that a new free-to-air system will be up and running in Washington this summer. ItÕs just that nobody is tuning in. Instead, Americans are surfing the web, sending e-mails, updating Facebook pages and watching YouTube clips. More than 10 times as many people use their phones for the internet as for mobile TV, and the number is growing.

Ironically, the only way mobile phone companies here can shift pricy mobile TV subscriptions is by bundling them with all-you-can-surf web access.

It seems that in comparison with the near-infinite, on-demand world of web content, mobile TV offerings are both too thin and too rich, after all.