The Promise of Mobile TV

Implications: As the transition to a digital television environment is now one year away, the CEO of one television company shares some interesting ideas regarding mobile DTV, and what he calls the DTV "triple play."

Analysis: ION Media Networks CEO Brandon Burgess clearly understands the importance of adapting to and monetizing the digital television spectrum, especially the promise of mobile DTV.

In this interview, Burgess talks about the importance of a DTV triple play, involving HDTV, multicasting capability, and the third component, mobile DTV.  Burgess correctly points out that both HDTV and multicasting are designed to reach the approximately 113 million Nielsen TV households.  But there are a potential 400 million mobile phones that will be able to receive mobile TV, and this is a market that TV broadcasters cannot ignore as part of their strategies with the conversion to digital.

A recent BIA Financial report on mobile video suggests mobile DTV could generate as much as $2 billion a year by 2012.  That's very good news for TV broadcasters struggling to monetize the digital spectrum and find new revenue streams.

This is an interesting read, and it is clear mobile TV represents a real opportunity for television broadcasters.