Qualcomm to cut FLO TV prices in half

HTNut · 07-05-2009, 05:17 PM

Is streaming content forcing Qualcomm to drive down pricing on FLO TV?

Qualcomm's FLO TV unit intends to cut pricing down half of what its carriers are charging for now. FLO now has 10 program feeds which include the following: MSNBC, MTV, ESPN Mobile, Comedy Central, CNBC, Fox News, Nickelodeon, CBS Mobile, NBC Mobile and NBC 2Go. AT&T and Verizon both charge around $25 to $30 a month, which Qualcomm has never set a retail price for. Later this year, Qualcomm plans to start selling FLO TV services directly to consumers packaged in month-to-month subscriptions around the $10 a month range.

Notable quotes from the New York Times article:

Quote:

Bill Stone, who Qualcomm hired earlier this year to run its Flo TV business, said that the service has been too expensive.

Quote:

“My view is that is shooting over the heads of the market,” Mr. Stone said.

Quote:

Mr. Stone would not discuss how many subscribers had signed up for Flo. He noted that the recent switch from analog to digital television allowed Qualcomm to start using some spectrum it had bought on what used to be UHF channel 55. That increased its coverage to about 200 million people from about 150 million people, and it increased its signal strength in some of the areas it already served. Qualcomm had bought unused broadcast television licenses to start its service even before the digital TV transition.

Quote:

Mr. Stone said that over time Flo would add more interactive and on-demand features.

Piggie · 07-05-2009, 06:46 PM

Alltel Mobile has the same channels and has been charging $10 a month for years. They have packages but the straight up TV uses airtime minutes.

However soon Alltel will be oligarched into Verizon, leave ATT virtually owning ever cell phone contract in the United Corportations of America or is it stll called the United States of America.

So next the cell companies will be too big to fail. Hope they don't go bankrupt.

Trip · 07-05-2009, 06:49 PM

I can only hope that US Cellular is not sold. I think I would cry if that happened.

- Trip

Piggie · 07-05-2009, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trip

I can only hope that US Cellular is not sold. I think I would cry if that happened.

- Trip

At one point it was either the old ATT or Cingular bought up all the US Cellular in Florida but I heard not everywhere, you're lucky. I was lucky living in Alltell territory but we all knew they were grooming the company with low prices to sell it with more customers, after they split off their landline business to Windstream. I hope Windstream doesn't merge with someone.

All these mergers are just driving up prices, under the guise of we are bigger and can bring more services. How big do they need to be? Virtually there is one cell company now serving the UCA.

CadDad · 07-05-2009, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Piggie

All these mergers are just driving up prices, under the guise of we are bigger and can bring more services. How big do they need to be? Virtually there is one cell company now serving the UCA.

So funny you mention that, I was talking with a coworker of mine last week about how their is a big monopoly in the cell phone business but prices are staying neutral for now. The big providers keep gobbling up competitors, etc., and then, he sends me this interesting survey on Friday: 60% of Americans would give up alcohol for their mobile phones. American society is becoming more addicted to their mobile phone as a result of being more connected with services like internet, social networking, email, and others. I don't think we're seeing high prices quite yet, but I do think that it's a possibility soon. Less competition is never a good thing for the consumer.

Piggie · 07-05-2009, 08:58 PM

There is only cell company now, they know it. I hate to sound so brash but the sheep are playing right into the oligarchies hands. Keep the masses entertained and steal their money.


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