QuickPlay Media will offer a subscription mobile television service for Research in Motion (RIM) BlackBerry phones that will be available in early May in the United States. The PrimeTime2Go service (see below) will cost $7.99 per month to download via Wi-Fi-only, on a microSD card, select TV programs to BlackBerry Bold and Curve phones.
So far, QuickPlay has announced deals with NBC, CBS, MTV and CW. TV shows mentioned in the press release are “The Office,” “CSI,” “The Hills” and “90210.”
Additional programs will be announced as PrimeTime2Go is launched and other BlackBerry phones will be compatible with service. The Storm, which has the largest BlackBerry screen, might be the best BlackBerry for viewing mobile TV and videos in general, although the Bold also has a relatively large screen.
Potential problems
I’m certainly looking forward to testing PrimeTime2Go, but I can see a few potentially major problems:
1. Will the service offer a sufficient number of networks and programs to convince enough customers to subscribe? So far, only a few networks are listed. What about ABC, Fox, CNN, MSNBC and many others?
2. QuickPlay says subscribers will be able to watch downloaded programs “until the pre-determined viewing period expires.” Uh oh. How many hours, days, months, years will you have to watch each program? Will there be one expiration period for all shows (say, one week) or will different networks and/or shows have different expiration periods that you’ll have to remember?
People love Hulu and put up with the vagaries of programs being posted — and removed after a time — in part because it’s free.
3. Will subscribers accept Wi-Fi as the only wireless transport or will they demand 3G? Wi-Fi is, obviously, faster and it places no strain on cellular operators’ networks. Also, Wi-Fi enables phones to work on any cellular network — assuming an operator doesn’t include software to prevent this.
Will the faster download speeds (generally speaking) of Wi-Fi and lack of bandwidth usage caps be sufficient to overcome the inconvenience of not being able to use 3G?
No rush to judgment
PrimeTime2Go isn’t even available, so it’s ridiculous to give it a thumbs up or down. The mobile TV business is complicated. Let’s see what’s available when the service launches.
Subscribers will be able to flag entire seasons of programs to download automatically when they become available “soon after the original air date.” Yes, I know — how “soon” is “soon”?
The software, when available, may be downloaded from RIM’s new BlackBerry App World online store. Shows may be downloaded in the background, so BlackBerry users will be able to perform other tasks while the downloading continues, the company says.
Update (4/26/09): QuickPlay has a Twitter account, which notes two new shows have been added to PrimeTime2Go. The shows are: “Heroes” and “The Young and The Restless.”
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