Frank Lampard, a Britisher who spends his vocational time in short pants while he runs back and forth across a field trying to kick a ball into a net (yawn), has gotten his own mobile television channel from U.K. cellular operator Orange, according to an article in The Guardian.
Lampard is a famous soccer player for the Chelsea Football Club and the article describes the exciting “Frank TV” content thusly: “The footage includes banter between players in the Chelsea dressing room and follows Lampard chatting to Ronaldhino as he collects his runner-up prize at the World Player of the Year awards.
“At home, he is depicted putting wrapped presents under the tree for his daughter on Christmas Day, playing with his dogs and cooking brussels sprouts. In one clip he admits how much he loves his food, but hurriedly adds that he plans to run it off the following day.”
Phone-averse?
Other Frank TV clips include interviews with his father, his cousin (a former soccer player), a “fan” and the Chelsea masseur. “In a scene that will go down less well with his sponsors, Lampard's father and Redknapp both reveal that his worst failing is his inability to return either calls or text messages,” The Guardian says.
Lampard has a “six figure” contract with Orange for the mobile TV videos and personal appearances. He has a blog, of sorts (see below), on Orange’s “football” Web page.
Whether cellular subscribers will find Frank TV to be compelling, I can’t say. But much as I consider watching sporting events or listening to athletes to be an indication of the low I.Q. of the human race, there’s little doubt that sports is one of the most popular mobile TV categories.
Sports as mobile TV savior?
It certainly makes sense that avid sports fans would want to view sports videos, especially live events. More’s the pity.
The Guardian, one of my favorite newspapers for mobile communications articles, a few days ago, published a story with the headline: “Can football save mobile tv?” Writing about the broadcasting of the Barclays Premier League on Sky Mobile TV, that I discussed a week ago, The Guardian says that mobile TV sports package is a good deal for five pounds per month ($10.16).
“But mobile television is likely to remain a niche pursuit. Watching a live football match on a mobile phone will always be a last resort. The fear of racking up big data bills, a problem that the networks are only now addressing with ‘all you can eat’ monthly data packages, has also acted as a drag on take-up,” the article says.
Some optimism
However, the article doesn’t paint a completely dismal picture. It notes that advertising could be a major stimulus because subscribers might not care too much about the poor video quality if mobile TV is free.
Also, the article says Italy, Japan and South Korea have shown there is a market for mobile TV. The Guardian says a key enabler is better quality video that could be accomplished with, for example, DVB-H or WiFi.
“In the meantime mobile TV will remain a minority interest. The demise of BT Movio and the lack of available spectrum are liable to hamper take-up for some time to come, but the mobile networks have enough cash, and enough determination, to make it a mainstream pursuit as handsets and picture quality improve — even if it is not the must-have cash cow they once envisaged.”
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