Mobile TV

We can already watch streamed BBC on our Android but the apps aren’t official. However the BBC will now launch in April its first applications for the iPhone, including the iPlayer catch-up TV service. The iPlayer on-demand video and audio player currently serves up 20 million requests for TV and radio programmes every week.

The BBC will launch applications based on its news, sport and iPlayer services and content will be free and it is also looking to make the offer available on rival Android and RIM’s BlackBerry platforms.

Users will also be able to send comments and pictures directly to the newsroom.
The BBC said the sports app will be released in time for the World Cup, which starts in June, and will initially focus on football.

The BBC’s free applications will certainly increase tension with companies looking to offer paid-for content and raises many questions about licence fees and tracking abuse. The other certainty is that the networks will certainly feel the pinch as bandwidth once again becomes a potential issue. Others who today offer free news apps include Sky, ITN and papers such as the Daily Telegraph.

In other TV news Seesaw's online service has launched for UK internet users after less than a month of beta testing on 20,000 users. Seesaw technology came from the aborted Project Kangaroo, the internet TV service that was blocked by the UK Competition Commission and the service offers viewers the chance to catch up for free on 3,000 hours of archive and recent programmes from the BBC, Channel 4 and Five.

Seesaw is funded by advertising and 17 major brands including; Ikea, Diageo and Kraft have already signed up. Like Spotify and other streaming services they see a combination of advertising, subscription and pay per view.
"It's quite hard to get people to pay for content online.

So TV is coming to a mobile near you and wide choices of offers are appearing on the internet. How long will we view TV as separate to other media?.