Are networks blowing their mobile TV opportunity?

Network television continued its headlong rush into digital distribution this week. On Wednesday Verizon Wireless and MediaFLO USA announced a spate of new series additions to the operator's V Cast Mobile TV platform--about a dozen shows from networks including NBC, CBS, Fox and MTV are poised to make their mobile debut, in effect launching on handsets a new fall programming season mirroring the one now underway on traditional broadcasting outlets. NBC also made news on Thursday, unveiling NBC Direct, which upon its November launch will offer free, ad-supported digital episodes of some of the network's most popular programs, each available for download immediately following its broadcast debut. "The shift from programmer to consumer controlling program choices is the biggest change in the media business in the past 25 or 30 years," said NBC Universal Television Group president Jeff Gaspin in an interview with The New York Times.

That's a whole lot of content making its way to mobile handsets, PCs and portable media players. So who's going to watch all of it? TiVo, on-demand services and DVDs have already given programming control to the viewer. New-media platforms certainly complement and expand the overall viewer experience, but in no way do they replace watching your favorite show on your couch in front of a big-ass plasma screen. Proponents for mobile TV typically suggest so-called "snacking" sensibilities will drive handset viewership, but that argument doesn't really apply given that episodes of a number of the new V Cast series--including CBS Mobile's Kid Nation, NBC2Go's Bionic Woman and Life, and Fox Mobile's K-Ville--each run roughly an hour sans commercials. Who wants to watch an episode of an hour-long show broken down into chunks throughout the course of a day--say, 20 minutes during the morning commute, 10 more minutes waiting in line at Starbucks, and another 20 minutes during the evening commute? Given the choice, wouldn't you rather view three separate short-form episodes instead?

"Our research shows that 83 percent of the viewers would still rather watch on a TV than a PC," NBC's Gaspin tells The New York Times, but acknowledges the numbers are far different for younger demographics. That's both promising and problematic, Gaspin admits: "What we don't know is if habits will change when people get to their 40s." So with no idea exactly how or even if the digital audience will grow, the networks seem content to play it safe, hoarding their best and brightest content for traditional primetime viewing and relegating reruns and outtakes to mobile and to the web. It's increasingly clear the major broadcast networks have little or no interest in producing original, unique content for the digital platform, preferring instead to dump their current programming schedules onto phones and hoping for the best, regardless of the demands and limitations of the mobile format. But if watching old episodes of According to Jim truly is the only plus of the mobile TV experience, we're all in serious trouble. - Jason