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Show DAILY B2 HERALD Monday, April 2007 A search for new revenue at aprice of$15 to $25 a month Hungry for growth, wireless industry brings TV to cell phones MobfTV Inc., whose live simulcast of cable TV channels has improved markedly over the years, but still remains more akin to live radio played against a jittery slideshow rather video. than normal which issues, those quality Despite MobfTV says will dissipate as handsets improve, more than 1 million cell phone users worldwide are now pay- Bruce Meyerson THE ASSOCIATED PRtSS Try shopping for a "Watchman" on Sony's Web site, and all you'll find is music. Though the company kept making the handheld TV for two decades, it never caught on like the Walkman, or, more recently, the n iPod. Yet it was earlier this decade, right about the same time that Sony Corp. was halting Watchman production, that the cellular industry grew bent on bringing live television to cell phones, unimpressed by the market's apparent rejection of screen. watching TV on a 2- - or Well, cell TV is here now. And since it's not free like traditional broadcast television, the wireless industry will find out soon enough whether people want their squint TV. In early March, Verizon Wireless introduced an eight channel service that broadcasts programming, much of it identical to that being shown on regular TV, including shows from CBS, Comedy Central, ESPN, Fox and NBC. The service, delivered over an $800 million network being built by Qualcomm Inc. and slated to expand to 20 channels, will also be offered later this year by AT&T Inc.'s Cingular Wireless under a recent deal. Undeterred by the loss of these two major wireless providers, a rival venture started by cell tower operator Crown Castle International Corp. is forging ahead with a trial network across the New York City area. The venture, Modeo, says it remains confident it will launch the service in 30 major markets at a cost of up to $500 ing for the service through Sprint and about 30 other wireless carriers. "The only people trying to point out a strain on the cellular network are the people not operating a cellular network themselves," said Phillip . a, ' - OSCAR SOSAAssociated Press Brian Durham, 13, watches the Colbert Report on his cell phone. to watch a year revenue stream for AT&T. Outside the United States, 400,000 people in Italy are using a cell TV service launched less than a year ago by the mobile carrier 3, a unit of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. Those customers, representing nearly 6 percent of the carrier's 7 million users, are paying as much as 29.99 euros ($40) extra per month to get TV on the go. In Korea, several million have signed up for mobile.TV services from TU Media Corp. and others since 2005. Such a swift customer embrace growth of text messaging despite the lack of a full keyboard on cell phones, as well as the surprising demand for ringtones, an $800 million would likely thrill Verizon, which is charging $ 15 to $25 a month for V Cast Mobile TV. The company, its revenue per subscriber stuck in the $50 range, won't say how many customers have signed up for TV since the launch in roughly 20 markets, but there are some encouraging signs. Three weeks after getting himself million. A fool's odyssey in an industry hungry for new growth? Perhaps not. "I don't know if people will want it, but every time I say one of these 'I don't know's,' it goes beyond my wildest imagination," said Randall Stephenson, AT&T's chief operating officer. He pointed to the explosive chief executive of MobiTV, He argues that network congestion will only become a problem when there are millions of mobile TV users, by which time a new generation of robust wireless technologies may give cellular networks ample capacity. Alvelda also contends that the mobile broadcast networks, limited to about 20 channels, run counter to the prevailing business trend exemplified by the YouTube video craze, where users can choose from a vast array of content. Where a broadcast service uses most of its bandwidth to send the same 20 channels to all subscribers, leaving little room for video on demand, a cellular TV service sends an individual wireless data stream to each phone with the program chosen by the user. The companies also are looking at opportunities beyond just cell phones. MediaFlo, which Qualcomm plans to spin off as an independent company, sees the cellular market as the Small claims The judge disagreed, and Monroe lost both cases. Each case cost Monroe $63 in court Continued from Bl costs. Monroe says his lawsuits are themselves in court. Stilt he believes in what he's a last resort. First he tries to get an apology or his money back. doing. If that doesn't work, he goes to married The court. father of two has been filing lawsuits in Lake County, 111., Anyone can file a small since 2000. He does his own claims case in Lake County legal work and estimates he has Circuit Court for as little as $62. Awards can be as high spent about 150 hours overall on the cases and made less than as $10,000. Attorneys aren't $10,000. required for most cases, and consuMonroe does not use one, As a "The whole point is that ltant, Monroe said he helps U.S. companies enter the global mar- it's designed" not to be compliket by showing them how to cated," said David Bender, the sell products in other countries. court's law librarian. "It's aimed He knows corporations are not to really be a all bad. court to solve the very straight"I'm not some cases." forward, "I guess maybe I'm doing this crusader," Monroe said. "A lot of corporations are very ethion behalf of society," Monroe cal." said. "The ultimate goal here is In a recent case, Monroe for the corporations to reassess sued America's Best Contacts what they're doing so it doesn't & Eyeglasses, claiming it sold happen to other people." him defective frames and reBut Bruce Ottley, a law profused to replace them. He won fessor at DePaul University, a judgment of $80.80 plus court said that by calling companies' costs against the company customer service numbers, March 5. complaining to store managers "We're really sorry that the and filing such small claims, Monroes had the experience Monroe is not reaching the they did with America's Best," people who have the power to said Reade Fahs, president of make changes. America's Best's parent compaMonroe might be doing the ny, National Vision Inc. "We're best he can, but he likely is fighting a losing battle, Ottley working with the Monroes to ensure we've learned from this said. "Is he going to make a difexperience so it never happens ference in their (business) pracagain." Last month Monroe won $5 tices? I think the answer is no because he's not hurting them," plus court costs against the Pep Boys auto parts store with Ottley said. "He's not even geta handwritten ting their attention with those claim: "The Pep Boys delibersmall claims." ately do not refund a sales tax Ottley and Rheingold said when return is being processed Monroe might have more luck The Pep Boys do not apply if he organized with other discount when coupon is preconsumers or tried to sented to the desk." appeal to local legislators. In any case, Rheingold said Although Pep Boys and Monroe have very different ac- Monroe has an honorable counts of what happened, both clause. said the dispute stemmed from "If more people actually . Monroe's use of a $5 coupon stood up and said, 'No, you and a refund he received on a can't treat us this way,' maybe consumers would be treated product. A spokeswoman for Pep better," Rheingold said. "It's Boys said the company folvery noble what he's doing, lowed its standard procedures and I wish more people would follow his lead and not just sort and treated Monroe fairly durof let these indignities happen ing the transaction in question. In 2006, Monroe sued Super 8 without standing up and fightMotels Inc., saying it provided ing back." Monroe has no plans to back "substandard" service and an down. unclean room He has a case pending Monroe was awarded $55.87 plus court costs. A Super 8 Mo- against Albertson's Inc., the tels spokeswoman declined to parent company of Jewel-Qscdiscuss the specifics of the case. He said the store sold him an g expired package of Despite those successes, Monroe is far from unbeaten in strips and refused to refund him. He wants $34 for the courtroom. his trouble. In separate lawsuits against Discover Financial Services and 'Maybe I am like Don TruGreen Chemlawn, Monroe Quixote fighting against the windmills," Monroe said. "But claimed the companies continthe alternative is what? Do ued to caD him after he asked them to stop. nothing?" e, like-mind- the $200 Samsung handset for the V Cast service, Charles Durham returned to the Verizon kiosk at a BJ's Wholesale Club in Jacksonville, Fla., to buy a second for his son. "He's an overachiever as it is at student. He school, a straight-knows his responsibilities in his short life," said Durham, 45, the owner of a company that makes sanitizing compounds. Durham says he bought the phone so he could watch Fox News when he's waiting on an appointment or eating lunch, but has been checking ESPN for updates on the NCAA basketball tournament and the University of Florida Gators. "The quality is clear as a bell on the basketball," he said. Durham's example is especially noteworthy because until now, he's made little use of the premium services on his Verizon phone, such as mobile Web access or downloading video clips, music or games. That means the extra money he's payikig for mobile TV won't come at the ' expense of Verizon's other services. Yet while gadget lovers may flock to mobile TV, some players dispute the need for a separate, dedicated wireless network with its own fre' quency like Qualcomm's MediaFlo and Modeo. A leading rationale behind those services, which require handsets that can pick up both a cellular and a broadcast signal, is to avoid clogging gravy-generati- cell networks with video. By contrast, Sprint Nextel Corp. is sticking for now with the pioneering combination of live and recorded television it has been delivering over its cellular network since late 2003. That service is powered by Eric Idle best way to get to the majority of the population very quickly. Michael Rarnke, president of the Modeo venture, also sees its service on both cell phones and other devices. Market research, he said, indicates that about half of consumers do indeed want a phone that does everything. But, he stresses, "The other half want their phones to be very simple and cheap and just work as a phone. They would just like to have a high-enmedia device that doesn't make the same compromises as a converged device trying to do all things." d Monty Continued from Bl at the Old Vic with Jonathan Miller directing.' He was very sweet. He said, 'No thanks, I'm really happy just directing movies.' " Idle sighed. "And we all know what happened to that project. Complete bomb!" Idle and his creative partner, British composer John Du Prez, cycled through a blizzard of other sources, searching for their inspiration. "We wrote something about sex, royalty and cricket, which on the radio a very good place for a musical, since you don't have to pay for sets and costumes." Separately and together, Idle and Du Prez fiddled with ' other ideas. But nothing presented itself as the ideal submusical ject for a comedy. This agonizing search leads to an obvious question: At what point did Idle look in the mirror, whack himself on the forehead and go, "Duh!"? "Yes, yes. "The Grail' was under my nose the whole time." (Idle is referring, of course, to "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," the 1975 film that rocketed the group to the comedic stratosphere in America and prompted college Python's Spamalot I Where: Wynn Las Vegas casino resort I When: Now running , indefinitely. V : . "(i ,f.f ' I Cost: I Call: $49-$9- I Online: 9 0 www.wynnlas-vegas.co- m ' b tor Nichols, he snagged actors David Hyde Pierce, Tim Curry and Hank Azaria. "These are actors whom a lot of people know and want to see," he said. Almost as important as pleasing critics and audiences was satisfying his former Python colleagues, Idle said. To a man, they seemed happy with the result. "It's a crowd-please- r is what it is," Gilliam told The Buffalo News after seeing the musical "It's certainly put a bit of life into the old Python corpse." Idle's memories of making H. LORREN AU JR.Orange County Register the 1975 film are not all pleasThe comedian and actor Eric Idle is involved with bringing ant. "It was made for about "Spamalot" to the stage. $400,000. We shot it in five students from Ann Arbor to weeks, mostly in Scotland, of Americans of a certain "I might have thought of and used all the daylight hours Annapolis to memorize such routines as "The Killer Rabbit" it and then dismissed it with, that you could possibly film, generation knew intimately. and "Bring Out Your Dead.") which wasnt very much. We 'No, they'D never let it go.' " "(Monty Python had) done The surviving members of two stage tours of America, were wet all the time when Artfully altered to give it a more coherent story line, and during the second tour we I watch the film I can tell how Python (Graham Chapman, did bits from 'GraiL' And (aulate in the day each scene was outfitted with songs by Idle who played King Arthur in and Du Prez and directed by the film, died in 1989) all had a diences) knew it alL It wasnt by how far up my body the veteran Broadway hand Mike hand in the movie's creation, just where you'd expect them water had crept." Idle thinks the small budget and it was to know it, in LA. and New Nichols, the musical adaptaby worked in the film's favor. Ustion, called "Monty Python's Python members Terry Jones York, but people from all and Terry Gilliam. over the place particularly Spamalot," wowed audiences ing coconuts to imitate horses "I had to approach them coland charmed critics during on college campuses. People was a joke that developed its Chicago tryout and at its out of economic necessity. lectively ," Idle said. "The only would come up to us and 2005 Broadway premiere. A way to do it was to show them quote scenes to us boring ry The producers had planned to how we might go about it. So use real horses but realized it streamlined version, shortand amazingly dully." I wrote a book and then we ened and shorn of an interIdle wanted to expand on would be prohibitively expenthat base for the musical The sive. wrote some songs, recorded mission, opens Saturday at in Las the Wynn "I think not enough money next step was to attract . an them, and sent them a CD." Included in that collection was audience that didn't know it. is best, especially for comVegas. In order to be really successIt wasn't as if Idle had never a later crowd-pleaseThe edy," Idle said. "Money only entertained the possibility of ful, I knew I needed to reach Song That Goes Like This." goes for trailers and hookers and drugs. Not that there's turning "Grail" into a BroadThey just loved it," Idle re- that larger group." To that end, Idle was deterway musical. But as a piece of called. "They all said, 'OK, this wrong with that. anything communal property, the issue is fine. Off you go.' " mined to land the best talent And it meant that a lot of the of adaptability was a tricky Idle knew he was workhe could for the debut produc- scenes were shot in one take, one. tion, and he did. Besides direc-- which kept us on our toes." ing with material that a lot . hotel-casin- o FUNDRAISER Get Jazzed Arena in Salt Lake City. The factory, d which makes wooden toys The Cedar City based organi- for impoverished children around the zation the Happy Factory is inviting Utah world, is trying to raise money to establish residents to "Get Jazzed" with a fundraiser a new location along the Wasatch Front. The fundraiser win feature a reception Saturday, April 5, at the Energy Solutions hand-crafte- non-prof- and silent auction from 0 pm Dinner win be served at 630 p.m. Tickets are S 150 per person. Former Utah Jazz coach Frank Layden and former player Mark Eaton will be the emcees for the evening. 530-6.3- bas-ketba-Q " |