Cell Phone Plans

Televisions in Your Pocket?

July 13, 2005

The next big thing coming to the palm of your hand: television. Currently, many of the wireless carriers offer their customers television access, but in the next couple of years televisions access will be as popular as camera phones currently are. It is estimated that within two years, 70% of all phones will be equipped with television access and will have enough memory and processing power to handle television services.

With the new trend becoming popular, broadcasts and cable networks are now packaging content for wireless phones including developing some programs for cell phones only. Independent broadcasts are also coming up with many new clips that are made for wireless phones.

ABC offers a 24-hour digital news channel for cell phone users. NBC produces more than 20 news broadcasts a day for wireless phones and have been tailored for a 2-inch screen. And 20th Century Fox runs "mobisodes," which are television programs whittled to one-minute episodes, keeping those caught up on their favorite shows. And more and more programming is expected to come into the market.

Bill Krenik, manager of wireless advanced architectures at Texas Instruments stated, "TV in a handset is a whole new paradigm. The whole face of TV is likely to change. On your living room TV, prime time is at night. Prime time on a mobile phone might very well be commutes."

There are still many tests being done to find ways to market this new technology. ESPN is pairing up with Sprint to offer a sports phones. Others are attempting to find out what type of content people want. Plus, there is a need to know if the television will be watched in spurts in between appointments or more regularly. As the research continues, the technology improves, making this trendy, new technology more popular with each day.

Click here to find out more about cell phone service.