Mobile TV? No thanks, say Europeans

Europeans' interest in watching mobile television is as tiny as cell phone screens, a new study showed on Monday, even though the industry has been buzzing about offering TV on handsets for years.

Mobile operators hope that mobile TV could encourage users to spend an extra 5 to 10 euros a month, compensating for declining revenues from voice calls, but mobile television and video downloads ranked close to the bottom of consumer interest in a Gartner study in Europe.

Only about 5 per cent of Europeans expressed interest in watching television or video on their cellphones in the next 12 months, the study said. At the same time some 20 per cent of Asians said they would watch TV on their phone screens.

"I think the main reason is the compromise you are making on the device you need to carry to watch TV - either too big if you want a nice experience or too small and you do not have a good experience," said Carolina Milanesi, a Gartner analyst.

Also lack of consensus on business models, variety of different technologies and shortage of airwaves has been hampering take-up of mobile TV.

The fact that spectrum availability is not a problem in many Asian countries, commercial DVB-H broadcasts have already started in India and Vietnam, with Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia also set to open networks this year.