Qualcomm’s FLO TV has really pulled out all the stops to attract viewers in the US, buying up key World Cup soccer rights on mobile from ESPN for its own direct to consumer services, and also for AT&T customers. There is no mention however of Verizon.
FLO TV in the US has been failing to attract consumers, largely due to the poor quality of its content, and until now, its unwillingness to pay up front for content.
Gradually, since the arrival of Bill Stone as President just over a year ago, that’s been slowly changing, and although no money was mentioned in the announcement, the fervor with which Soccer fans follow their teams is legendary for attracting any kind of TV viewers and it will not have been bestowed on FLO TV lightly.
FLO TV will offer all 64 matches which ESPN has already paid for from the 2010 FIFA World Cup, live from South Africa. The games will both on its own FLO TV service but also significantly also on AT&T Mobile TV handsets. MediaFLO is a form of broadcast mobile TV, which uses none of the cellular channel to deliver high quality video content. Qualcomm’s FLO TV has built its own network in the US, and both AT&T and Verizon offer 10 and 12 channel TV services on specialized FLO handsets.
It appears that AT&T was prepared to pay a little extra for the soccer content, and Verizon wasn’t. AT&T, Verizon and Qualcomm offer a variety of FLO TV packages from $10 to around $15 a month.
FLO has been gradually changing since Stone hit the helm, first announcing a go it alone strategy of selling direct to the public and introducing a portable TV in October, after two and a half years of selling a handful of subscribers on Verizon and AT&T combined. The new devices offered DVR capability and a Push VoD service.
In December Qualcomm bought rights to critical Disney content including original Disney Movies, plus ABC Mobile including Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, FlashForward, Ugly Betty, Lost, Hannah Montana and Wizards of Waverly Place. It was also building out the remaining of its US network after the analog TV switch off, which allowed it to increase the power on its transmitters. It also bought extra UHF spectrum last June.
Sport is a proven pull for Mobile TV and China arranged the launch of its CMMB service for the Beijing Olympics with some success, while Italy launched a DVB-H service with the games on during the last World Cup and jumped immediately to several hundred thousand subscribers.
The FLO TV coverage will include a dedicated 24-hour World Cup channel and FLO recently unveiled a national advertising campaign featuring US Soccer midfielder Landon Donovan.
“No single sporting event unites countries all over the world quite like the FIFA World Cup, the world’s largest global sport, and there’s no American player more active than home-grown star Landon Donovan,” said Bill Stone, president of FLO TV. “We’re committed to offering viewers the chance to catch all the action as it happens, live from South Africa. We are equally proud to partner with Landon Donovan, who has led his team to major victories and amassed an amazing fan base both here and abroad.”