Live TV on Iphone

[Tiffy]

Hi,

The Iphone seems to be one of the best mobiles available to watch live TV (if we except the Japanese mobiles which often integrate a tuner for mobile TV). Unfortunately, it seems that statistics on this usage don't exist or are not communicated.

I would be interested to know :
- Do many of you watch live TV on the Iphone ?
- How many time (per day, per month, ...) ?
- How long do you watch live TV per session (30 seconds, 5 minutes, 2 hours, ...) ?
- What kind of things do you watch ? (news, weather, series, cinema, sport, ...) ?
- For those who don't watch live TV on their mobile, why ? Cost, no interest, no time, ... ?

I will start with my own answers :
- Do I watch live TV on the Iphone : very rarely
- How many time : maybe 5 minutes every 2 months
- How long do you watch live TV per session : often 20 seconds. Just the time to test if the quality is good or not. 2 or 3 minutes if I watch news.
- What kind of things do you watch : News
- Fot those who don't watch live TV on their mobile, why ? Considering that I don't really watch live TV (5 minutes every 2 months...) : no interest. Generally when I have the time to watch TV, I am at home with a true TV...

 

[jcde7ago]

That's because the iPhone doesn't have a TV Tuner nor does it really have an app that is capable of streaming live TV OTA (AT&T would probably have a huge problem with allowing such high-bandwidth content to stream to the millions of iPhones out there on a daily basis). Most "Live TV" that's watched on the iPhone is either streamed through the SlingBox app or something like the MLB At-Bat app.

As it stands, Live, OTA TV really isn't supported by the iPhone or its carrier, which is why these kinds of usage statistics don't exist/aren't reported. It is definitely NOT like Japan, where like you said, Live TV OTA is streamed to almost every mobile handset that's sold to the public.

 

[Tiffy]

That's because the iPhone doesn't have a TV Tuner nor does it really have an app that is capable of streaming live TV OTA (AT&T would probably have a huge problem with allowing such high-bandwidth content to stream to the millions of iPhones out there on a daily basis). Most "Live TV" that's watched on the iPhone is either streamed through the SlingBox app or something like the MLB At-Bat app.

As it stands, Live, OTA TV really isn't supported by the iPhone or its carrier, which is why these kinds of usage statistics don't exist/aren't reported. It is definitely NOT like Japan, where like you said, Live TV OTA is streamed to almost every mobile handset that's sold to the public.

There are some Apps like MTV or TVU in the USA which allow to watch live TV. In France, the 3 mobile telephone companies propose live TV (with up to 60 different channels), for a few additional euros per month (but it still TV over 3G/Edge, not with a TV tuner like in Japan). But even in France no statistics exist. In fact, I just wonder if there is really a huge market for this usage ?

 

[jcde7ago]

There are some Apps like MTV or TVU in the USA which allow to watch live TV. In France, the 3 mobile telephone companies propose live TV (with up to 60 different channels), for a few additional euros per month (but it still TV over 3G/Edge, not with a TV tuner like in Japan). But even in France no statistics exist. In fact, I just wonder if there is really a huge market for this usage ?

Interesting...I know for a fact that here in the states, there really aren't many options for Live OTA TV (Over-the-Air) or even regular shows streamed through a TV that isn't network specific like the MTV app that you speak of (which I actually didn't know was actually available).

I am guessing that here in the states, no carrier would probably want Live TV without further charges, so Live TV here probably would never take off for the iPhone (at least not in the near future). It's probably very different overseas though, as you mentioned.

 

[Tiffy]

Interesting...I know for a fact that here in the states, there really aren't many options for Live OTA TV (Over-the-Air) or even regular shows streamed through a TV that isn't network specific like the MTV app that you speak of (which I actually didn't know was actually available).

I am guessing that here in the states, no carrier would probably want Live TV without further charges, so Live TV here probably would never take off for the iPhone (at least not in the near future). It's probably very different overseas though, as you mentioned.

It's very different overseas because there is a real offer, but not for free. For example, with Orange, you have to pay 8.5 USD/month for 20 channels. But I don't think they make money with it, at least at the moment. That's probably why there is no such offer in the USA yet