In fact, ask any UK distributor or rights owner what new market they are most excited about, and the answer is likely to involve 3G mobile phones or some other form of hand-held media player. Although most will also admit that it's an area they really don't understand and many are sceptical about just how much money there is to be made.
Of course, there are the usual big success stories, like Endemol's Big Brother, Fremantle's X Factor or ABC's Lost, all of which are available in the UK on mobile operator 3. And the organisers of next week's Mobile TV screenings and awards at Mipcom have apparently received an impressive 230 entries from 30 countries, so clearly it's not just the big players who are getting in on the act.
But will devices like the long-awaited video iPod really have as dramatic an impact on the TV business as they have done on the music industry? After all, MP3 players are just tapeless Walkmans really - they haven't radically altered consumer behaviour.
The scenario painted by crystal ball gazers, though, is one where time-poor consumers can download their favourite TV shows to their mobile devices and then catch up with the latest news or plot twists on Lost on their way to work. Which sounds good in theory - until you realise that, like most new technologies, it is likely to be porn that is the biggest driver in the take-up of mobile content.
In the meantime, any opportunity for the TV business to get to know the mobile operators better has to be a good thing. And the fact that companies like Orange and Nokia are heading to Cannes next week is encouraging news for those producers that have managed to hang on to their mobile rights.
Dominic Schreiber is editor of Broadcast's Mipcom briefing.
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