Editor's Corner

With mobile TV still in its infancy, it's impossible to know just what consumers want or even expect from the service. Do they want movies, TV shows or short films? Original content or proven favorites? Scripted series or news, sports and weather? On-demand or streaming access? It doesn't help that few lessons can be drawn from traditional broadcast TV: Even after decades in the business, network programmers still don't know what viewers wish to see, and careers are made or broken by which ideas end up sticking to the wall. Most new series never make it past their first seasons on the air, and for good reason, since most are woefully sub-par. But sometimes a critical favorite comes along that builds a devoted cult following, while nevertheless failing to generate the kind of ratings or demographic cachet necessary for survival.

Can mobile TV transform a longshot into a hit? NBC is about to find out. The network announced this week plans to offer ad-supported episodes of its struggling but acclaimed high school football drama "Friday Night Lights" via the MobiTV platform alongside premium on-demand episodes of established hits like "The Office" and "Heroes." Since "Friday Night Lights" is already considered a washout in terms of Nielsen ratings and viewer buzz, it may be past the point of resuscitation, but its relative success or failure on wireless handsets could go far in determining what viewers want from their mobile TV services and what content owners and producers are willing to give them.

The question facing mobile TV subscribers is simple: If you've never seen "Friday Night Lights"--and by all accounts, few viewers have--will you now watch it on your mobile phone? To put it another way: Will you kill an hour of downtime spent in an airport terminal or on a commuter train watching an ongoing serial drama designed for primetime network consumption, with all the production values implicit in the format? Will you watch for free a show you've never seen in favor of dropping $1.99 on a show you know you love? Will you watch on a screen the size of a snack cracker a show you can't be bothered to even TiVo at home? And--most important of all--if you do watch it, and you like it, will you start watching it every week in primetime?

As the major broadcast and cable networks continue to embrace and expand the possibilities of mobile TV, its place in the broadcasting hierarchy will become increasingly clear. Network programmers may look upon the mobile platform as a safe haven to nurture audiences for critical darlings and pet projects, or else as a dumping ground to burn off completed episodes of failed series they've already canceled--right now, it's too soon to tell. (Even right now, it's impossible to guess NBC's motivations vis-à-vis "Friday Night Lights.") At this point, each new mobile programming strategy is an experiment, and the experiments that succeed will dictate the terms of mobile TV for years to come. The first generation of mobile TV viewers will determine what follows--everyone's watching to see what they watch. - Jason