Opinion ID: 2314971
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Mobi

Text: Mobi acts as a middleman between content providerstelevision networks, record labels, and radio broadcastersand wireless phone carriers. To do that, Mobi aggregates contenttelevision programs, music videos, and the likeinto a number of channels (with themes such as news, music, and comedy) that wireless carriers then offer to their customers as part of their phone subscription plans. In addition to aggregating content, Mobi also provides the technology infrastructure for delivering this content directly to viewers. [3] Mobi's primary offerings may be roughly divided into three types: television channels, radio channels, and music video channels. [4] Television channels consist of programs and clips acquired directly from the networks. Radio channels are acquired from audio-only content providers, such as National Public Radio, ESPN Radio, or DMX, Inc (DMX). Music video channels feature music videos that Mobi acquires from various record labels. In the case of television and radio channels, Mobi has little control over the content that is ultimately placed into the channel by the content provider. In the case of music videos, Mobi acts as a content provider itself by acquiring and assembling individual music videos into themed channels designed and marketed by Mobi. Payments to Mobi from the wireless carriers. Television, radio, and music video content may be packaged for consumption in one of two ways. First, groups of channels may be packaged for à la carte selection, for which wireless phone customers pay a monthly fee, usually around $10. Second, content may be bundled with other types of non-Mobi products and services and sold to the customer as part of a larger offering. When Mobi's products are sold as part of a bundle, it receives a flat dollar figure per subscriber per month based on the relative value of the Mobi service to the bundle. In the latter case, Mobi does not know how much the carrier received for the sale. In both types of packaging, payments are not affected by whether subscribers actually use any of Mobi's content. [5] In addition to the revenue from carriers for packaged content, Mobi also earns a small amount of income from advertising that it inserts into its channels. This revenue may be retained solely by Mobi or shared with the wireless carriers pursuant to license agreements. Payments from Mobi to content providers. For the right to distribute content to the wireless carriers, Mobi generally pays the networks and other content providers a per-subscriber fee. The size of the fee, which Mobi negotiates with each content provider, depends on the popularity of the channel. Although Mobi's revenue-to-cost ratio had been improving steadily in 2008, as of 2008 it had never made a profit.