ABC Live-Streaming App Still Leaves ‘Huge Opening’ for Mobile DTV, Stakeholders Say
ABC’s Internet Protocol-based live-streaming application doesn’t change mobile DTV strategy “in the least,” an executive from the Dyle mobile DTV service told us. Instead, the coming application validates mobile DTV, proving “there is demand for live-streamed content,” said the executive, Salil Dalvi, Dyle co-general manager. Broadcasting and mobile DTV consultant John Lawson also said the app offers a cheaper streaming option than Aereo. The app still leaves a “huge opening” for a service like mobile DTV that does not require a Wi-Fi or cellular data connection, said Lawson, principal at Convergence Services.
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ABC said Monday it will launch a new app this week that will allow cable subscribers in New York and Philadelphia to watch its network and local programming live on iOS devices and the Kindle Fire (http://bit.ly/166hP61). Unlike mobile DTV, the app will stream over the Internet and require either a wireless connection or a cellular data package. Although the network’s content is available for free over the airwaves, only cable subscribers will be able to use the mobile app. ABC has plans to expand the service to other markets in the coming months, it said.
Lawson said ABC’s move could signal a willingness to get on board with mobile DTV. ABC doesn’t offer its network content over mobile DTV, several DTV industry members confirmed. “It’s hugely significant that ABC is allowing their content to be streamed because they've been a bit reluctant regarding mobile DTV,” said Lawson. “I think this is a step closer to where ABC truly will be serving all mobile consumers.” He also said ABC probably does not see the two types of offerings as an either/or scenario, but rather as one more way for the consumer to get content. ABC had no comment by our deadline.
Regardless of ABC’s plans regarding mobile DTV, Dyle executives said the technology remains relevant even as broadcasters roll out Internet-based apps. Erik Moreno and Dalvi, co-general managers of Dyle, said the proliferation of network- and channel-specific applications shouldn’t be seen as competition for mobile DTV. Instead, the apps would highlight the advantages of the technology, including that it can offer multiple channels in one application. Its biggest advantage is that it does not use bandwidth, so consumers won’t need to find a hotspot or face data-related charges for using the service frequently, they said. On an IP-based app, “without having bandwidth, either the experience becomes poor or becomes too costly for the average consumer,” Dalvi said. “That’s the fundamental problem that we solve.”
ABC’s app, in contrast, practically requires a Wi-Fi connection, said Sam Matheny, vice president of policy and innovation at Capitol Broadcasting. “I think that’s what this application is probably targeting -- more of a Wi-Fi [distribution] as opposed to a truly mobile distribution.” As one looks “at the best available network and the one that’s going to truly scale the most, be the most cost-effective for a station to offer the service and provide the true mobile coverage, I think really that mobile DTV is the answer,” he said.
More than anything, the ABC app validated what Dyle and others are doing with mobile DTV, Dalvi said. “There is demand for live-streamed content. One of the things we've seen is that as these networks are starting to launch live-streamed content, it’s kind of a validation that live actually still matters to the consumer,” he said. “I think that’s a very good indicator, that you've got some of the largest media companies in the world deciding [to] go ahead and offer a 24-hour live stream of [their] content -- that tells me that we're playing in the right sport.” Moreno said consumers “won’t care which radio it comes over. They won’t care if it’s coming over Dyle, or if it comes over the IP network. What they want is the content and we want to make it available, as networks and affiliates. We want our consumers happy and getting the content, especially if it’s behind an authenticated service.” For that reason, Fox offers its content for live-streaming “jointly” over its IP-based application and on Dyle’s mobile DTV services, he said. He hopes ABC and other networks can be convinced to do the same, he said.
But Lawson said the mobile DTV industry has not yet cemented its relevance with consumers. “The window is not going to be open forever for mobile DTV to be successful in the marketplace,” he said. “It’s because the carriers will train people that they can get video content they want, but they have to pay for it through their data plans. We've seen many technologies come and go that might have been more suited for a particular application, but other market forces render them irrelevant.” He said there is certainly space for mobile DTV and demand for its bandwidth advantages, but warned that the technology could also be rendered irrelevant if “more broadcasters don’t make the modest investment to light up their stations.”