If telco 3 is to be believed, we’ve turned into a nation mad on mobile TV. It sent out a release this week claiming that over the summer its customers tuned in over 1.2 million times to watch Cricket TV, its direct-to-mobiles cricket programming.
On the surface of it, it looks like pretty good news for television broadcasting to mobiles, except for the weasel-wording that makes us wonder how many people really did watch it.
The specific quote from the release is: “3’s Cricket Mobile TV returned 24/7 this season, with customers tuning in over 1.2 million times to watch Cricket TV with live Channel Nine coverage, replays and archive footage.” Our read is that if you tuned in four times in one day, each would be counted separately. Nowhere in the release does it reveal how many subscribers the service has. If 3 is being so cagey about actual users, then we have to wonder.
We should add, however, that the 3 service is pretty good for what it is. We’ve tried it, it works and it’s reasonably priced (unlike some competitive TV offerings like Telstra’s, which is just a joke). But watching sport on a tiny mobile screen just isn’t that compelling.