No 3D for the Super Bowl this year, but CBS is livening up the big game, with help from Level 3 Communcations to deliver uncompressed HD broadcast from Super Bowl XLIV. CBS is also helping to spread the word about Mobile television. On that uncompressed stream you may see an ad, or three, from Mobile Television provider FLO TV featuring CBS Sports anchors.
Just before kickoff, FLO TV will debut a 30-second ad featuring CBS Sports studio host James Brown and Nantz. In the spot, dubbed “Driven Crazy,” Brown brings peace to a family on a long trip by introducing them to FLO TV’s Auto Entertainment service.
via FLO TV Playing In Super Bowl With 3 Ads – 2010-02-01 14:29:33 | TWICE.
All the ads tie in with CBS, suprisingly not on the list of stations participating in OMVC consumer showcase in Washington DC, and the Super Bowl, including a second ad with the anchors. FLO TV’s third spot features “The Who’s ‘My Generation’ by Black Eyed Peas frontman will.i.am” a song probably performed by the originators during the Super Bowl Half Time show.
While CBS is certainly happy to loan out its employee’s to an ad that will pass its approval board, FLO TV is more interested in generating interest in the its proprietary format, hoping to translate that into sales. FLO TV has its subscription based mobile over-the-air (OTA) technology in
- AT&T and Verizon Wireless mobile phones
- FLO Personal Television
- automobiles in partnership with Audiovox
If you beleive the internet, FLO TV discussed adding new features including Video on Demand and support for ATSC Mobile DTV. FLO TV has spectrum prevously known as analog in more than 100 US markets, fitting 20 mobile channels in that space. Not bad, right? Except that ATSC has a standard, actively being promoted by the OMVC and FLO TV doesn’t work with it. Yet. The ATSC standard also has provision for brodcasting data instead of video. FLO TV talked about having the data consist of VOD information that viewers had selected earlier. Not unlike Amazon Unbox, where you could order the movie and have it waiting for you by the time you get home. This would be more like ordering the night before for the commute into work.
The viewing habits is one of the many things the OMVC Showcase hopes to determine
In D.C., eight local area television stations will transmit up to 20 channels of free and premium broadcast TV programming. Devices in the test are expected to include 300 Dell netbooks outfitted with Mobile DTV receivers, and Samsung’s phone for Sprint with an embedded Mobile DTV chip.
Over the spring and summer, OMVC, Harris Interactive and Rentrak will use Harris’s Web-based Early Adopter Community survey tool and Rentrak’s Mobile Essentials service to measure and analyze consumer-viewing trends. Key metrics to be studied during the project include determining most active day parts, how long viewers remain engaged and what content genres are most frequently viewed.
As usual, it will come down to content. What is there for you to watch? FLO TV, from the start has been about
- sports (ESPN)
- news (MSNBC)
- children’s programming (Disney)
and that is a great three prong attack. What they are currently cooking up is even better:
- free OTA (ATSC)
- Subscription (FLO TV’s current service)
- VOD
Ion Media Networks, one of leaders supporting Mobile DTV, is sticking with free OTA and investing in original programing, both long and short form. Below is a news clip mentioning the recent acquisition of Emeril’s new show. Maybe you will be able to watch it on a FLO TV, soon. Happy viewing.
Tags: FLO TV, Ion Media Networks, mobile DTV, mobile TV, OMVC, Pay TV
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