Mobile TV struck down

The Writers Guild of America went on strike early Monday morning after months of negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers failed to yield a new contract. Hollywood scribes are demanding their share of income derived from webisodes, mobisodes and other scripted new-media formats in addition to seeking jurisdiction over a broader swath of cable programming and improved residuals on DVD sales. The effects of the writers' walkout were immediate: Talk shows like The Late Show with David Letterman, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Late Night with Conan O'Brien went into reruns Monday evening, and now primetime series ranging from The Office to Desperate Housewives to Grey's Anatomy are either shutting down production or filming the few remaining scripts already in-house.

A quick glance at the current schedules for mobile TV services like Verizon Wireless' V Cast or Sprint's Power Vision reveals a fairly huge overlap with the series listed above, which underscores the perils of settling for the hand-me-downs of another medium. After all, with broadcast television girding for an extended period in rerun purgatory, where does that leave mobile TV, which is already unhealthily dependent on repurposed network and basic cable content? What will draw viewers to tune in on mobile episodes of series that have already aired multiple times and in quick succession in primetime? As the strike trudges on and viewers inevitably turn away from traditional broadcast outlets in search of something new, mobile TV could have offered alternative programming that's vital and unique--instead, for the most part the medium recycles the same familiar series as its big-screen predecessor, in a format far less appealing to the average couch potato.  

The last time the WGA hit the picket lines, in 1988, the strike extended for 22 weeks--viewership never truly recovered, with networks losing nine percent of their overall audience. Two decades later, the stakes are even higher: Factor the multitude of cable and satellite channels into the equation, not to mention the Internet, video games and DVDs, and it's impossible to guess how badly traditional broadcast fare will suffer this time around. The harsh reality is that once viewers make a break with primetime television, they're not coming back--and if they're no longer watching their former favorites on their home entertainment systems, they're certainly not watching them on mobile handsets. - Jason