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Qualcomm CEO Calls FLO TV A Disappointment

Jun 4, 2010, 3:22 PM by Eric M. Zeman

Speaking at the Wall Street Journal's AllThingsD conference this week, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs expressed disappointment in the limited success of its FLO TV mobile television service. FLO TV uses 700MHz frequency to deliver mobile television signals to devices such as cell phones. FLO TV services are offered on a handful of phones from both AT&T and Verizon Wireless as well as stand-alone mobile TV units, but it hasn't been the hit that Qualcomm hoped for. "There are people who love it, but the numbers are not nearly what we expected," Jacobs said. Jacobs also noted that the company may choose to do something else with the spectrum used for FLO, such as delivering mobile data to devices rather than — or in addition to — mobile TV. Jacobs didn't say that Qualcomm and MediaFLO have made any final decisions on the future of FLO TV, and both AT&T and Verizon are still offering the service.

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Comments

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This forum is closed.

Jayshmay

Jun 4, 2010, 3:44 PM

Not enough devices support MediaFlo!!!!

It's not even available on any Android smartphones! If my Motorola Droid had MediaFlo built in I would get the service, but there are just so, so few devices on the market that support MediaFlo.

ShakeLOVE

Agree and there isn't a lot of market coverage for it. I can't see paying for it if I can only use it in select cities I can use mobitv almost everywhere.

...

bkw79

Jun 6, 2010, 11:25 AM

They Should Have Expected Failure

I have used the service on both Verizon Wireless and AT&T, and it's a very good service. However, MediaFlo USA/Qualcomm should have expected this to be a failure. It's only available for a few phones, none new that I know of. It only offers a small amount of channels. It costs too much on top of an unlimited data plan. And last, but not least, after all of this time, the coverage area for FLO TV is still very small.

trey1475

Jun 6, 2010, 11:03 AM

I saw this comming a mile away!!

I predicted this years ago. First of all Flo is not supported by many devices. You cant expect to do great numbers when only a small fraction of sales supports Flo. Only two carriers offer the flo service. On top of that the service is not offered everywhere. Flo's coverage area is very limiting. The people whos phones support the service cant purchase it because they are not in the coverage area. Lastly, the content is very limiting on the Flo's network.

Qualcomm is really going to suffer when OTA DTV mobile chips start to ship in phones. There really wouldnt be a need for Flo's service anymore. DTV is free and is in more places than FLO. I think OTA DTV mobile chips will be the nail in the coffin that will end FLO. So I do think Qual n...
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netboy

Jun 5, 2010, 8:51 AM

people are not stupid!

why would any1 pay a MONTHLY FEE for this FLO tv garbage when you can get a slingbox and stream all your live cableTV from your house for free!

bluecoyote

1) Slingboxes aren't free.

2) Slingboxes aren't free.

3) Let's say you're traveling for few days and the internet goes out at your house because your cable modem / dsl modem needs to be reset. Your Slingbox is worthless until you return.

4) S...
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algorithmplus

Jun 5, 2010, 5:52 PM

Recession and Change of Viewing Habits

I think FLO is doomed for 2 reasons:

1) We are in a recession and people are cutting back spending, especially in areas of broadcast TV such as cable, plus many people are downsizing their mobile services as well.

2) There is a change in viewing habits. With the ability to stream video on the internet, as well as record with a DVR, why pay for a broadcast service? Most likely, the programs that interest you are shown at fixed times, and you are likely to have access to a regular TV, or have internet access or DVR so you can watch the program when you want instead of when the broadcasters say so on FLO.

Aside from the economic recession, I think that broadcast TV and standard cable are going to have their own industry recession as t...
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Mentat

Jun 4, 2010, 4:30 PM

Watch me fix FLO TV...

Put it on the iPhone, Incredible, Evo, Palm Pre Plus, Droid and Blackberry 9xxx series.

fahrende

That wouldn't be a quick fix. FLO requires another chip on the board and requires a significant amount of integration effort to make this work.

Also, keep in mind that mobile TV has never been that popular in the states(even in the days of portabl...
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ChipDaFone

Jun 4, 2010, 11:12 PM

They just now figured this out

It did'nt work indoors. I don't think it was even live TV. It was too expensive. was'nt Verizon selling it for, like $25/ mo. Verizon had it on the Voyager, but nothing good after that.

retrocool

Jun 4, 2010, 9:13 PM

It sounds like a menstruation-centered cable channel, that's why

Too much like Oxygen and Oprah's upcoming channel and Lifetime combined. Ick. No thank you.

kingstu

Jun 4, 2010, 5:30 PM

A better use of spectrum....

They have the same frequency as AT&T and Verizon will use for LTE (4G). They can build that out and get roaming or lease it to carriers and help people get faster cellular data. That would be the way to go.

dave73

I don't know the amount of spectrum for that specific license, but the black of spectrum that Qualcomm holds is one way transmission only. If the licenses were turned in, the FCC would have to figure out how to reallocate the spectrum for cellphone u...
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