It was always on the cards. After encouraging users to listen to music and watch video clips on their mobiles, the wireless industry is now pushing mobile, broadcast TV services. There’s one catch: these channels are not free. Given that fact, it will be interesting to see if subscribers go for the service.

 

Verizon (News - Alert) Wireless has already taken the plunge into mobile TV with its eight-channel service that includes programs from CBS, Comedy Central, ESPN, Fox and NBC, just like your regular TV. Qualcomm (News - Alert), Inc., is building a $800 million network to deliver the service, which will soon be expanded to 20 channels.

 

The initial reaction from customers has been somewhat discouraging, but nonetheless competition is heating up fast. AT&T’s (News - Alert) Cingular Wireless, and cell tower operator Crown Castle International Corp., are developing ambitious plans to capture this relatively unexplored market. Crown Castle plans to deploy a trial network in the New York City metro area. Crown’s mobile TV, Modeo, is preparing to eventually launch broadcasting on-the-go in 30 major markets, which will cost roughly $500 million.

 

These companies are rushing ahead with their mobile TV plans, even though market potential is as-of-yet unproven—but they have good reason for doing so. Many mobile services have amazed the trade pundits in the past and surpassed all the expectations.

 

For example, despite the lack of a full fledged keyboard, text messaging has witnessed unprecedented growth the in recent years. The same it true for MP3 ring tone market, which does a brisk business of an $800 million a year for AT&T alone. So, there is a good possibility that mobile TV may be a hot with the people in the long run and bring sizeable profits to those companies smart enough to seize initiative early on.

 

Although a new type of service in U.S., mobile TV has already been successful in other parts of the world. In Italy, 400,000 people are hooked to the cell TV service introduced by the 3, a unit of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., less than a year ago.

 

At least in Italy, the concept of TV on a small, mobile screen has caught the imagination of the subscribers. They are willing to pay as much as 29.99 euros ($40) extra per month to make their cellular phones TV-enabled. Considering the fact that 400,000 subscribers represent only 6 percent of the carrier's 7 million users, one can estimate the potential demand for this new service.

 

This should certainly be music to the ears of the operators in U.S., as they are charging far less than their counterpart in Italy. For example, Verizon is charging $15 to $25 a month for V Cast Mobile TV—and the price war has just begun.

 

Mobile TV is here to stay and grow. Currently, more than 1 million cell phone users worldwide have opted for the service through Sprint (News - Alert) and about 30 other wireless carriers. As the cell phones of the future are more likely to facilitate such advanced functions such as TV on mobile, a new era will be ushered in.

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