Long-Delayed AT&T Mobile TV Due in May

AT&T Inc.’s long-delayed mobile TV service, which it claims is core to its three-screen video strategy, is now set to debut in May, but the carrier’s announcement is very light on detail and offers no insight into the business plan for the offering.

AT&T Mobile TV with FLO will be accessible using two exclusive to AT&T handsets from LG and Samsung and features full-length live content from a number of sources and two yet-to-be-described “exclusive channels.”

Like Verizon Wireless’ V Cast, which debuted long ago, AT&T’s planned offering will be based on MediaFLO USA Inc. technology.

While AT&T and some other U.S. operators have high hopes for mobile TV, many large challenges need to be met for it to succeed financially, among them bandwidth and coverage limitations, making content and device screens work best for consumers, and finding a revenue model that can make the offerings profitable.

Further challenging mobile TV providers is the increasing cost of content itself and the cost of adapting traditional TV or Web TV programming for use on smaller-screen mobile devices. Shooting “mobisodes” exclusively for mobile TV also represents an added cost.

And with full-length content promised, the question of how long consumers will watch video on a mobile device resurfaces, with one carrier estimating a peak of 15 minutes.

Perhaps the most value of wireless when it comes to video is the promise of being able to seamlessly continue watching TV when you switch from your home TV to a wireless device after leaving the dwelling. That won’t be fulfilled until networks and systems are integrated using architectures such as IMS.

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