France Telecom Goes to the Movies

With its three-screen service, Orange—the telco's mobile, Internet, and TV arm—makes sure you're wired for entertainment wherever you are

by Jennifer L. Schenker

The kids are only two-thirds of the way through watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix but you need to pile them into the car for a quick trip to the supermarket. Rather than risk tantrums and tears, you switch the movie onto your mobile phone and let the tots keep watching it while you push them around in the shopping cart.

Sounds like a futuristic fantasy, but families in France will soon be able to do just that. On Apr. 9, France Telecom's Orange mobile, Internet, and TV unit unveiled a service, set to be introduced in the fourth quarter of this year, that will let subscribers get premium movies from Warner Brothers (TWX) and HBO and swap them among their PCs, TVs, and all manner of portable devices, including mobile phones. Pricing hasn't yet been announced.

Consumers "want to access all of their content on all three of the screens with the same user experience, the same interface, and the same quality of service," Didier Lombard, chairman and chief executive officer of France Telecom (FTE), told an audience of TV and film producers on Apr. 9 at MIPTV, an international audiovisual conference in Cannes.

U.S. Lagging in Three-Screen Service

France already is the European leader in video-on-demand services delivered via broadband, and analysts say it's the first telco in the world to offer the same content package on all three platforms. The service will be introduced first in France, but Orange—which is also present in Britain, Spain, Poland, and other countries—says it plans to roll it out elsewhere as well starting later this year.

Following the model set by France Telecom, other phone companies are expected to come out with similar offerings. But it may be a while before U.S. consumers can enjoy them. According to consultancy ABI Research, there are currently only about 1.4 million subscribers in the U.S. who receive Internet-based TV (IPTV) services delivered via set-top boxes vs. around 7 million in Europe. The available mobile TV offerings also tend not to be as advanced, says ABI analyst Paulhwa Lee. So "three-screen" services like France Telecom's are likely to be rolled out across Europe and Asia before they reach the U.S.

Under the deal, Orange will have exclusive access to new Warner Brothers films such as Harry Potter and Ocean's 13, and to new series from HBO, as well as popular older programs such as Six Feet Under and The Sopranos. Orange also will carry content produced in France, such as new movies from French production houses Gaumont (GAUM.PA) and Fidélité Films.

Learning the Hollywood Game

The Orange cinema series will be available by subscription for all of Orange's TV, Internet, and mobile customers in France. The premium service will consist of six channels of films and TV, as well as programming-on-demand to the screen of choice. Customers also will have the option of using "catch-up mode," a feature that allows them to rewind programming if they tune in after a show has started.

Telcos have toyed with the idea of entering the entertainment business—experimenting with everything from video-on-demand to producing their own content—since the early 1990s. But most efforts to date have flopped. For one thing, poky networks meant that downloading a movie would tie up a phone line for hours. The phone companies also were out of their league in Hollywood. And after splitting revenue with the studios, they often ended up with less revenue per minute than for ordinary phone calls.