CBS Mobile is offering full-length episodes — divided into short segments — of the “Late Show with David Letterman” and the “Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” over Verizon Wireless’ V CAST Video Clips (not its new streaming V CAST Mobile TV), according to Verizon’s press release.
This new CBS Mobile service starts today (Tuesday). It is available to subscribers “following their nightly CBS broadcasts and will remain accessible until the following night’s broadcasts replace them,” the release says.
Using Verizon’s Samsung SCH-u740 dual mode flip/clamshell camera phone (see below; photo from Nokia N95 five megapixel camera phone using macro mode and flash) that Verizon was nice enough to send me a few months ago (I really must return it!), the new CBS Mobile service worked fine….buffering notwithstanding.
(In my area it’s rare that I can watch more than a few minutes of a Verizon video clip without it stopping and buffering.)
Just a few clicks to go
After fewer than a dozen clicks (yes, I’m being sarcastic), I was able to watch a clip! Here’s the sequence of clicks, after the phone is turned on:
1. Click “Menu”
2. Click “Get It Now”
3. Click “”Picture & Video”
4. Click “V CAST Videos”
5. Click “TV & Film”
6. Click “CBS Mobile”
7. Click “Full Length Late Shows”
8. Click “Full Length Letterman” or “Full Length Ferguson”
9. Click “Letterman Music” or “Letterman Interviews” or “Letterman Sketches” or “Letterman Monologue”
10. Click “Jeff Goldblum Interview Pt. 1, “Jeff Goldman Interview Pt. 2” or “Jeff Goldblum Interview Pt. 3”
11. Watch it!
Not quite in order
As you can see, the shows aren’t listed exactly in order of how they are presented on “regular” television. You can’t click, for example, on “Letterman, 8/21/07” and watch first the monologue, then an interview with a guest, then another interview, then a musical performance, etc. in order of the appearances.
If you want to see the entire show you have to watch according to the subcategory and click back to the next category.
By the way, for some time CBS Mobile has been offering a selection of individual videos from David Letterman and Craig Ferguson as part of Verizon’s Video Clips. It just hadn’t offered these “full length” (so to speak) episodes.
Good, but…
I’m glad to see Verizon Wireless isn’t completely ignoring its on-demand video clip service in favor of its sexier V CAST Mobile TV that streams eight different channels (though not always at the time they are broadcast over cable).
Verizon’s Video Clips service, including ESPN and the Internet, costs $15 per month for unlimited viewing or $3 per day (24 hours). V CAST Mobile TV costs $15 per month for eight channels or $13 per month for four channels (hardly seems worth not paying the extra $2).
The combination package of V CAST Mobile TV and Video Clips costs $25 per month.
As is evident by my “click list,” it takes a lot of button pushes to get to the video you want. Why can’t cellular operators — not just Verizon — offer ways to easily create lists of mobile TV favorites with the specific program category and subcategory?
(For more on mobile TV navigation and personalization — or lack thereof — check out my most recent mobile TV article on Mobi-lize, that I’m helping to develop and write.)
Short or long videos?
If you’ve been reading this weblog, you know I’ve written many times that the future of mobile television includes both short clips and long, full length programs. Many analysts trumpet that only short clips should be offered. I strongly disagree.
Apparently, Cyriac Roeding, the executive vice president at CBS Mobile, CBS Interactive, thinks the same thing. He says in the release, “While we continue to provide short clips of our shows, we’re seeing a growing demand for the availability of full length, network quality shows on video on demand mobile video.
what type of phone is this?
Posted by: lilli | July 14, 2009 at 07:15 PM
cuanto cuesta i en español pliiz
Posted by: vaneza | September 23, 2008 at 08:20 PM
have you discovered the www.viewmy.tv site yet? id be interested to hear your thoughts, you seem like the sort of person who's on the cutting edge of online video technology. http://www.viewmy.tv
Posted by: howard | August 30, 2007 at 11:32 AM