A move by BSkyB in the UK this week has probably set back UK mobile TV hopes for some time to come, as it releases a full streaming TV App on the iPhone, which includes all of its top sports channels.
The UK has a peculiar position on mobile TV, with no available spectrum to support a broadcast DVB-H launch, and Vodafone and Orange, while both offer streaming TV over the cellular line, have managed to get a tiny proportion of their customers to take the service. But the new Sky service will resonate with every iPhone or iPod Touch user in the UK, bringing them live sport as long as they can get near a wi-fi hotspot or a home or work wi-fi connection, and afford a simple £6 ($9) a month fee.
When big sporting games are on, people who are stuck at work, or who are in the pub or who have spouses who want to watch something else on the main home TV, now all have another way to keep up with the game and if we know UK sports fans, this will sell in droves.
Sky Mobile TV on other devices is for the most part viewed over a cellular streaming link which is unreliable at best, and unavailable at worst. Sky pay TV is the UK’s best selling pay TV service with 9.5 million homes viewing, out of around 24 million UK homes.
The Sky app lets users stream live TV via wi-fi and the offer includes all Sky Sports channels, Sky Sports News, Sky News, ESPN and At The Races.
This takes in soccer Barclays Premier League coverage, the Scottish Premier League, international and domestic cricket, PGA European Tour Golf, Guinness Premiership Rugby and a range of other sports.
David Gibbs, General Manager for Mobile at Sky, said: ‘In less than a year we’ve already seen millions of downloads of Sky’s Apps from the App Store. Our new Sky Mobile TV App combines the demand for great live TV on the move with the high quality viewing experience offered by iPhone and iPod touch.
The app allows users to browse the Sky Mobile TV electronic programme guide for free and see what’s on over the next 24 hours. To view live TV, customers will need to subscribe to the Sky Mobile TV service for £6 a month and register for a Sky customer ID. The Sky Mobile TV App is available for free from the App Store.
The new Sky Mobile TV app further expands the range of iPhone and iPod touch apps available from Sky which include Sky+ Remote Record, Sky News, Sky Sports Cricket Score Centre and Sky Sports Football Score Centre. There have been 2 million downloads of Sky apps to date.