How Successful Is Mobile TV In Malaysia?

Success with mobile TV Malaysia? According to The Feature, the constant claims of mobile TV success by companies in Malaysia do not seem to hold much water with most folks. I too have to ponder, how can a country with so many issues possibly have much success with technology that has not taken off in more developed areas like Japan?

While the companies involved are claiming the early results are a success, they are based entirely on internal projections — meaning, they might have just set the bar very low. Also, the numbers aren’t entirely clear. Maxis, who teamed with Astro, to launch a mobile TV offering early this year says 98,000 subscribers have signed up, which sounds good until the following sentence admits that only 10,000 users have signed up for “Video Live,” which is the live TV offering. While the article does not fully explain this discrepancy, it sounds like the other 88,000 subscribers prefer pre-recorded content — not nearly the same thing as the live television that so many operators are excited to promote. Even the executives involved with providing the live streaming service have admitted in the past that “perhaps not many” people are really interested in viewing live video clips on mobile phones, but they do believe there is a niche market for certain areas.