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Despite being a unique feature at launch Virgin Mobile’s DAB TV has so far flopped, and high cost ad campaigns featuring Pamela Anderson have yet to stimulate sales.

We wrote about the Virgin TV Mobile (VMTV) back in September 2006 and you may have seen their recent ad campaign featuring Pamela Anderson advertising the Lobster 700 TV mobile phone.  It seems the campaign hasn’t been very successful and Virgin has sold fewer than 10,000 handsets. 

Beauty is skin deep and, let’s face it, the Lobster phone isn’t exactly a fashionable stylish looking mobile. It is eye catching but for the wrong reasons, the large hump on the side of the handset isn’t an attractive feature and makes the handset look like a bulky 80’s retro mobile phone.

Although the handset isn’t much to look at, its unique selling point of being able to play live TV also seems to be unpopular. This is contrary to many consumer surveys indicated that Mobile TV could be a big hit.

Rival networks seem to think that it has failed due to the small amount of channels available (BBC1, ITV1, 4, and E4), though the quality of the TV reception may also be an issue. Consumers are unlikely to watch Mobile TV at home while sat still and would probably find it much more beneficial on long train or car journeys where reception may not reach an adequate standard for continuous viewing.

We also think that people the scope for consumers listening to music and radio on their mobile phone is much higher than watching TV. Your phone screen is usually small making viewing awkward and unless you are on a long journey or stationary it’s much easier just to listen to your music than hold your handset whilst you try and watch TV.

Other networks who release more stylish mobile TV handsets might be more successful but Vodafone and Virgin has so far nose dived on the mobile TV front, though other operators such as Three with their new X-Series TV add on may set themselves up for a fall unless they take heed of the quality of their TV reception and the choice of programmes and channels.