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Given the rush to load up cars with the latest technological gadgets, you’d think that in-car television would have taken off by now. But Chrysler, the pioneer of in-car live TV, has sold only 850 units of its FLO TV system since it began offering the $629 (plus installation) MOPAR accessory last year, according to the Detroit News. And now Qualcomm is winding down its FLO TV business (likely due to low sales, reports the LAT), leaving Chrysler with only the Sirius TV subscription service to offer consumers who want live TV in their Grand Caravan. Chrysler is
still developing a plan to take care of the customers with FLO TV as it learns more details of how the television service provider plans to stop offering its direct-to-consumer programming,
but it seems that the technology simply isn’t striking a chord with consumers. Which leaves the question: why? High price? Poor marketing? Or do consumers really draw a line between in-car DVD players (must-have) and live in-car TV (no thanks)?
29 Comments on “In-Car TV Going Nowhere...”
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Must have federal law requiring propaganda dissemination device to assist in promulgation of corporate-based coercion to spend money so as to assist in placing dollars into circulation.
Failure to spend in a country where the economy reportedly is based 70-percent upon citizen/consumer spending is unAmerican, indicative of a lack of patriotism thus a lack of support for the troops thus proof of a support for terrorism and assuredly Talibanesqe beliefs and conceivably membership in a 5th-column subversive element of hard-core cadre who could conceivably lead to insurrection and the collapse of the Union or even a union and other really naughty things that decent properly-indoctrinated citizens do not even ponder such as Roseanne singing the Star Spangled Banner on TV during that most patriotic of events; a televised major league baseball game.
Hallelujah and hosanna.
obbop, That’s brilliant! Did you copy that off rense.com? How dare you to suppress conspicuous consumption! MLB also enforces patriotism by adding singing G.B.A. during 7th inning stretch, thereby assuring that over-weight, beer-swilling, obnoxious “fans” are the cream-of-the-crop and the model citizens they are! This is (somewhat) tongue-in-cheek, of course.
At this point I can hardly imagine watching TV without a DVR. With in car TV you’d hardly ever be able to watch a whole show. You’d get in the car at 3:10pm and be out again at 3:45 and you see part of one show and part of another. At least with a DVD you can watch a whole movie (or show) in 20 min chunks.
I thought i had to have the dvd option in my 2005 Town & Country and what a pain it turned out to be. I had two younger kids who would fight over what they wanted to watch and consantly had to adjust headsets etc… the kids thought it was great for about a year then it went completely unused for another two years until we traded in the van. On our next purchase we choose NOT to get that option.
I would say that the continually declining quality of TV programming has much to do with it. Between the insipid reality shows and the high commercial to program ratio, why bother?
In car DVD = tranquillizer
In car TV = tranquillizer with periodic switch-over during commercials.
Maybe consumers are simply very resistant to adding another monthly bill to the family budget.
+100 The last thing I need is yet another subscription to pay for. I think that subscription resistance is about to mushroom.
How much is the subscription? What’s wrong with just looking out the windows? We’ve tried a portable DVD player twice in our car and it was more trouble than it was worth. Would never buy a permanently installed vehicle DVD system. That said we don’t do much cross country travel. Mostly 150 miles this way and that.
jmo hint the nail on the head – a TV without a DVR is nearly worthless. Also how many “channels” did FLOTV offer? Even Sirius BackSeat TV is very limited in choices. People are spoiled by having 100s of HD channels available to them, anything less isn’t worth the $ I bet.
Most in-car-TV watches are kids in the mini-van, for which DVD playback is perfect. Even better, Apple’s new AirPlay technology that allows your iPod to stream video to TV (via an AppleTV).
I could see a SlingBox-2-Go for vehicles catching on, because your car is all about “place shifting” (Sling’s term).
I’m not really for in car DVD players in general – I think they’re a cop-out overall, and that if you can’t instill in your children enough discipline to behave during a car ride without watching a movie, you’ve lost the battle before you’ve even begun.
However, systems like this are especially pointless, in part because of the bill, and in part because of live TV’s schedule not syncing up well with drive times, as jmo said. However, I see an even bigger reason to skip something like this –
3G data speeds are sufficient for SDTV quality streaming video, and 4G gives you HD. Ford and other automakers already have systems whereby a single 3G/4G aircard or similar USB based device can be shared as a connection through the entire car, and with the bevy of services such as Hulu, Netflix streaming, Youtube, Vimeo, Amazon Streaming, etc, there is no reason to pay for a subscription service when you can just stream shows or movie over your wireless connection on demand.
I’d also think that the kind of tech savy parents who’d buy the in car TV are now going to spend that $ on a iPads or iTouch for the kids. You can use those in the car, on a plane, etc. It’s sort of like paying for navigation when I can get navigation on my phone and use it anywhere.
@NulloModo
Discipline only goes so far. Last year my family and I drove all over the western U.S. on vacation. If it wasn’t for the portable DVD player I brought along my 9-year-old nephew would have whined constantly during some long, multi-hour drives. Pretty scenery just doesn’t do it for him. A handful of movies and a DC-to-AC adapter was perfect entertainment.
James –
There’s always the option of conversation in the car, or giving the child a book to read.
Read? What is this strange thing you speak of?
Here’s a unique concept: Why not save all the money on these infernal gadgets and passengers simply look out the windows and enjoy the view? Just a thought.
Oh, and you kids get off my lawn!!!
Sorry Zackman, with the dementia and all I knew you’d forgot that part.
Let me guess, childless? Kids all grown up? Which is it?
jmo: So you were the the guy in the neighborhood who always yelled at me! I didn’t forget!
IGB: Kids all grown up and out!
In all seriousness, a TV/VCR combo 20 years ago would have helped on our road trips. We just brought books, and Kansas has nothing to look at.
I sat through a review with JD Power of the latest multimedia initial quality and customer satisfaction studies. One of the most interesting things I took from the meeting was that less than 20% of those surveyed said that they wanted rear seat entertainment in their next car.
What am I supposed to watch when I’m behind your mini-van?
BMW’s navigation system used to have over-the-air TV about 5-10 years ago as a standard feature. It only worked when the car was not moving. This was in Europe, maybe they’ve never enabled that feature in cars sold in the U.S.
So FLO TV lasted what, maybe a year? Between the in-car buyers and all those goofy handsets, that’s a lot of irritated early-adopters.
This is not surprising. The kind of people who would spring for TV in a car are also the kind of people who would prefer a DVD or portable gaming system anyway. It’s an interesting idea, but a failure in the “didn’t understand the market” sense.
In-case internet access is a similar failure-in-progress. If you need it, you probably already have a cellular modem anyway.
Psar,
If this came out a year ago during carmageddon, it’s no wonder it failed. I bet they make a run at this again when the economy picks up. For most who truly needed a new steed in the last 18 months, I’m sure this type of option was far from their minds.
Cost was higher than the benefit.
The hardware costs $629 plus installation. Then the monthly fee. I think the potential customers decided it was not worth the cost. A typical family can only afford so many monthly fees (cell phones, cable/satellite, Netflix, internet service, etc)
So somebody bought the hardware only to find a year later it was useless? I’d be pissed enough I’d switch vehicle brands next time I purchased a vehicle.
I’ve told my kids they’ll have in-car DVD over my dead body. So maybe they’re plotting my demise. :) Look out the window, I say, and observe the beautiful countryside.
So in-car TV is even less of a ‘must-have’ for me than a DVD.
“Gasp” the horror of a long trip without the electronic teat! As a former service brat with ADHD who endured many, many hours on the road moving from one base to the next, I looked out the window at the flora/fauna or read a book when the scenery was boring. It helped me learn to keep still and I saw some amazing sights. Dad wasn’t much on playing the radio, either. We were limited by regulations on how many miles we could travel a day (can’t have servicemen crashing due to lack of sleep) so we camped a lot and had plenty of rest stop sandwiches and Kool-Aid and chances for me to work off some energy.
As a kid of the 80s we got along with some portable tunes, headphones and the window. Until the batteries died. Then we’d open a book or magazine. Today my own kids are looking out the windows or reading or sleeping on trips. Their portable video game gadget doesn’t work well in bright sunlight.