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MetroPCS aims to bring mobile TV to 32 markets

Wireless carrier MetroPCS is launching a mobile TV streaming service to metropolitan areas in 2012 to help consumers watch content on multiple devices.

When the program is launched later this year, live TV content will be available on an upcoming Samsung smartphone model with plans to include additional devices in the future. The deal will equip television conglomerate Mobile Content Venture-owned stations to individually offer mobile content to their markets.

?We recognize that as an ecosystem, you need to have broadcast and additional content available to consumers,? said Salil Dalvi, general manager at MCV and senior vice president and general manager of strategic ventures at NBCUniversal, New York.

 ?Unless you have both a mobile device and a way to get the device into consumers? hands, you have nothing, and this partnership made sense because it helps close that gap,? he said.

MCV is a joint-venture that helps develop 12 major broadcast groups, including NBC, Fox, Hearst Television and Gannett Broadcasting, to mobile and digital platforms.

MetroPCS is a wireless carrier that claims to have 9.1 million subscribers and focuses on no-contract plans and unlimited service.

Second screen
Under the partnership, MetroPCS will preload an application and a microchip into an Android smartphone.

The app is part of the Dyle program from MCV that aims to get broadcast content onto mobile devices.

Using the app, consumers will be able to register their account and instantly start watching TV from local stations.

The number of stations that users can watch varies by market and depends on which local broadcasters offer the mobile streaming services.

For example, the Los Angeles market plans to have approximately six local stations available for consumers to watch.

On-air ads
Mobile and TV are increasingly going together, but mobile typically plays a second or third screen in marketing plans.

For example, recent Nielsen data has shown that 40 percent of smartphone and tablet owners use their mobile device while watching TV (see story).

Therefore, there is not a lot of work being done around streaming broadcast content to mobile platforms, and the MCV and MetroPCS deal is an extremely big initiative that has the possibility of impacting large-scale networks.

At launch, the program will be a replica of on-air advertising with plans to add mobile-specific ads in the future.

Compared to other forms of media, both MCV and MetroPCS believe that because the streaming takes place inside an app, marketers will be quick to sign on with advertising coverage because the results are measurable.

?If you are offering the same advertising opportunity both on-air and on mobile, you need a way to measure viewership and get credit when the ad is sold,? said Stephen Jemente, product manager of digital media and location-based services at MetroPCS, Dallas.

?Because it is a mobile app, there will be additional opportunities for advertising in the future,? he said.

?Right now it is not in our road map, but it is absolutely possible in the long-term.?

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York