Ahhh, handheld TV... the dream of civilised society since... well, ever since I can remember:
(Thanks, Sir Clive...)
Anyway, as with seemingly everything these days, handheld TV devices are being replaced with... with...
...go on, you can probably guess...
...yes indeed, it's the mobile phone again... at the moment best represented by the iPhone, of course...
The excellent TV Catchup service delivers you the core BBC/ITV/Channel 4 & Five channels, via a streaming service via the iphone.tvcatchup.com website...
...it's not even an app, you just point your mobile browser to it, pick the channel, and off you go; wherever you've got WiFi, you can stream TV, and the quality is pretty astounding, too...
And last night, Andy sent me a text saying that Sky were offering a free 3 months subscription to Sky Sports on the iPhone; you just download the app, and enter the promo code.
I'm sure it's just a tempting hook with a whacking great subscription charge after the three months is up, but it's certainly nice to have for three months. If you've got an iPhone, just text SKY to 2020.
So it's good to see the land of TV embracing new technology, rather than pretending it's going to go away and everyone will just keep on doing what they've been doing for years (Yes, music industry, I'm looking at you...).
What about measuring it though? If the BARB system is barely robust enough to accurately measure viewing on existing TV platforms, and that's the currency used to work out how much advertisers pay for spots, then how are they going to measure this sort of viewing.
I guess the interesting thing for TV about this sort of viewing is that because it's delivered through a very, very measurable digital platform (with TV Catchup, for instance, they should have access to the same sort of robust metrics you'd have on ANY online streaming video), then they can report real viewing numbers, not just numbers worked out using a proxy panel system...
...though whether that sort of accuracy about viewing figures is desired by the TV companies, we'll just have to see.
When I found out about this I also checked out the PC version it gives you more than 30 channels in crystal clear quality. A free version of multiroom!
The only condition is that you are a UK resident which it assumes as long as you are surfing from a UK ip address.
Posted by: Thaer | November 10, 2009 at 09:58 AM
oh and the link to the PC version...
http://www.tvcatchup.com/
Posted by: Thaer | November 10, 2009 at 09:59 AM
The TV Catchup thing is great.
Sky, however, I'm not impressed with, now that I've tried it...
It asks you to sign up with a Sky ID... if you don't have one, you have to get one.
Then, when you have that, it tells you to sign the Mobile TV t&c as if you were signing up to pay £6 a month.
Then, if you enter the promo code to get your free 3 months of sky sports, it still wants a credit card (so they can no doubt bill you when you forget to cancel).
So I've not tried it out yet, as I refuse to sign up to that deal.
NOT impressed...
Posted by: John V Willshire | November 10, 2009 at 10:42 AM