Writers’ Strike Highlights Problems With Mobile TV

FierceMobileContent editor Jason Ankeny weighed in on the Writers Guild of America strike, saying that the whole thing only reinforces the fact that mobile TV consists largely of recycled clips from regular television series at the moment. He said that 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 TV series that are currently showing reruns due to the strike, and how it 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,” Ankeny wrote, “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.”

We’re certainly inclined to agree. Hopefully studios will ratchet up their efforts to create original, compelling mobile TV content, and face up to the reality that most customers aren’t thrilled about paying $15 per month for 3-minute clips of shows that have already run on their much-larger living room sets for free.

Mobile TV struck down [FierceMobileContent]

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