Hollywood courts mobile viewers

The trend is changing when and how TV watchers are tuning in.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
HOLLYWOOD -- It used to be that watching television meant just that: aiming your eyeballs at a TV set.
On Monday came proof of just how outdated that definition has become.
First, Apple Computer Inc. announced that it had sold 1 million video downloads in the 19 days since it unveiled its video iPod. Among the top sellers were $1.99 episodes of ABC's hits "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives," which can be seen on iPods or computers.
Then, NBC confirmed that beginning Tuesday, it would make video excerpts of "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" available for download by Sprint mobile telephone customers. The network is betting that, in exchange for the convenience of watching Leno's monologue any time, fans will pay for something they already get for free.
"Apple's success certainly reinforces the view that there is a demand out there," said Bob Wright, chairman of NBC Universal. "How big? It's too soon to say. But it's for real, and it's going to be with us for a long time."
Fast-food TV
Welcome to the age of fast-food TV: nuggets of news and entertainment that can be consumed on cell phones, video game consoles and digital music players. Whether the programming is downloaded via iTunes software or over a cellular network, the trend is changing where -- and how -- TV watchers are tuning in.
"The notion of a particular screen being tied to a particular kind of content is breaking down," said Van Baker, an analyst with Gartner Inc. "It's what kind of screen is available to me right now, and that's what I'll use."
For Hollywood, cell phones with color screens and the ability to download video files couldn't come at a better time. Executives are under pressure to find new revenue as the industry's most powerful profit engines -- DVD sales, 30-second commercial spots and syndicated TV reruns -- lose steam.
Broadcast networks and cable channels, wary of losing advertising dollars to the Internet, have been experimenting for months to learn what works -- and what doesn't -- on an itty-bitty screen.
"What are the three things that you always have with you? Your money, your keys and your cell phone," said Lucy Hood, president of Fox Mobile Entertainment. "If we can deliver a fun entertainment experience on this device, that will make it a very powerful medium."
What works
But figuring out what can be successfully adapted and sold on a hand-held device has been a process of hit and miss.
A clear winner in the small format is comedy. Among the most popular offerings on Verizon Wireless' V Cast video service, for example, are clips of Jon Stewart's fake news headlines on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show." V Cast subscribers, who pay $15 a month, also can see bits from ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and even "Sesame Street."
Leno is the first big-name comedian to be featured on Sprint TV Live, a $9.99-a-month video service that the cellular provider launched in September. As part of the package, subscribers can watch live feeds from the Weather Channel, MSNBC, Discovery and Fox News Channel.