Apple Thoughts: Mobile TV On The iPhone... In France...

"From 7 April, all Orange customers with an iPhone will be able to watch TV from Orange. With the "TV from Orange" application, Orange will offer access to more than 60 TV channels on the IPhone including the French national channels, TNT channels and thematic channels."

In a related article, the author ponders: "France's dominant carrier Orange is rolling out an iPhone application on April 7 that will allow subscribers to access more than 60 television channels live, including the country's national channels, TNT channels and thematic channels, in what could become an interesting gauge of consumer appetite for mobile TV." I don't need a gauge to tell you that people are very interested, but over the past few years carriers have been shooting themselves in the foot with bandwidth caps and usage restrictions to the point where people gave up on ever seeing anything resembling mobile television. In fact, in a few days, when Sling Media's Slingplayer for the iPhone debuts, watch how quickly AT&T puts the kibosh on using its precious 3G bandwidth while at the same time telling you that you have an unlimited data account.

It isn't the people who aren't interested in it, it's the carriers working against it at every turn that has stalled the growth of mobile TV; or at least your mobile TV. If you want to pay for AT&T or Sprint or Verizon's paltry specialized limited offerings, you're more than welcome to. Somehow, for those, there's unlimited bandwidth. Guess that's what happens when you pay extra for it.