Infonetics says worldwide mobile TV revenues to total $5.6 billion by 2009

Infonetics Research says worldwide revenues for mobile video services will total $5.6 billion by 2009 (see below), assuming the wireless industry is able to solve today's mobile TV problems, according to the company's latest report.

Revenues for 2009 will increase 11,997 percent compared to revenues in 2005 of $46.2 million, the company says.  The Asia Pacific region will generate the most revenues.

Mobile TV phone sales will increase from 28 million sold in 2005 to 336 million in 2009, Infonetics Research says.

Overcoming problems

Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband and IPTV at Infonetics, says in the company's press release, "The success of mobile video hinges on a number of factors, including the availability of handsets with reduced power consumption, value for the subscriber's money, ease of use, acceptable price points for multimedia handsets, and most importantly, the right selection of standard and unique channels, content, and services.

"All of these challenges are within reason of being resolved quickly.  Mobile video needs to replicate the home TV experience as much as possible, be it over broadcast (RF) or unicast (3G) mobile devices.

"The mobile video services available today leave a lot to be desired, but people are still subscribing because they’re excited about the future of the technology.  The convenience it provides outweighs its limitations."

Well, yes, people are subscribing.  But's it's still an early adopter service and for many people excitement turns into disappointment because of the poor viewing experience.

Same content

The release says, "Mobile operators are expanding the bandwidth of their existing 3G networks through HSDPA and MBMS, rolling out dedicated, RF-based broadcast networks, and deploying new mobile video service delivery platforms (SDPs), all steps that pave the way to offer the same content as we see on regular satellite, digital, or cable TV at home.

That last point is interesting because many analysts and wireless company executives say the future of mobile television belongs more to short clips and programs that are exclusive to cellular rather than simply retransmitting existing shows.

I believe people will want to see the same shows they now watch on broadcast or cable TV.  Indeed, watching live shows, especially news, is an important and necessary component of mobile TV.

Sports drives growth

Infonetics says sports will help drive the growth of mobile TV.  The research firm says, "In the US, Sprint/Nextel has a 5-year $600 million deal with the National Football League (NFL) to deliver highlights from the week's games and real-time updates of scores and player statistics.

"And in South Korea, Japan, and throughout Europe, mobile video operators who streamed and broadcast the 2006 World Cup games and highlights saw a huge spike in mobile video subscriptions."

Yes, the World Cup certainly sparked many people to subscribe to mobile TV and other major events also will generate new subscribers.  But the quality of the World Cup broadcasts was, to say the least, mixed.