TV phone home: GoTV wants cell phone users to call for their sports, games, music and comedy programming.

The Democrats won Congress and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger earned a second term, but they weren't the only ones celebrating big wins in the recent elections.

Two weeks later, executives at Sherman Oaks-based GoTV Networks Inc. are still aglow in the wake of the broadcast of their groundbreaking "Hack the Vote" mobile phone news segments.

The investigative report on the problems with Diebold voting machines was broadcast in four two-minute segments over four days prior to Election Day. Former TV newscaster Carter Evans was the face and voice of the report.

"We launched the first investigation piece designed for mobile distribution and we were able to put out exclusive and unique footage over the phone," said Daniel Tibbets, executive vice president for GoTV programming.

If privately held GoTV has its way, the more than 200 million cell phone users in the United States will be getting a lot more than news on their mobile phones. They'll also be getting sports, games, music, entertainment and comedy--virtually any sort of content that can be packaged and distributed into the cell phone universe. All of this is done for a fee, of course.

GoTV charges $4.99 to $9.99 per month to receive its material on a mobile phone. GoTV currently has about half a million subscribers, but because it has deals with nearly all the major cellular carriers, including Sprint Nextel Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., T-Mobile USA Inc. and Cingular Wireless LLC, the revenue stream has potential to increase quickly.

Tibbets wouldn't discuss profits or revenues, but an average of $6 per month for each of the company's nearly 500,000 customers translates to revenues of more than $30 million, and the company has other pure content deals including one with Verizon's V-Cast cell phone service.

There are roughly 220 million wireless subscribers in the United States and a majority of them want more than simple phone usage out of their cell phones, according to Joe Farren, director of public affairs for the Cellular Telephone Industry Association.

"The large majority are using a 21st Century wireless device, meaning they're interested in how they take and send photographs, listen to music, surf the web," said Farren. "It's changed dramatically from a phone to a lifestyle tool. It's their address book, phone book, music player, TV set and, by the way, it also makes phone calls. It's essentially the power and function of a desktop computer in the power of your hand."

GoTV is just one of numerous cell phone content companies across the country that are looking to tap into what could become one of the fastest growing markets in the U.S.

"We're very clear about this market," said GoTV chief operating officer Thomas Ellsworth. "It's a very nascent business, but it's growing and we're seeing subscriber growth on a month-by-month basis."

Tibbets said that industry analysts point out that video would be a mainstay on cell phones within the next five years.

"We believe that we'll be able to carve out at least 25 percent of that market in five years." Tibbets said.

GoTV currently offers twelve broadcast channels with a wide range of original. exclusive and licensed programming. Such channels include: ALTitude, a rock music station: Diva, the mobile women's network; Hip Hop Official, the urban music site; Fantasy Sports Edge, which has sports news, scores and fantasy stats; Laugh Riot, a comedy network; GoTV SuperChannel, which offers gossip, weather comedy and news content from ABC and ESPN; Univision Mobil, which has the hottest programs on the Number One Spanish-language broadcast network in the country; Sony BMG Front Row, music programming in collaboration with Sony BMG; and BoostTV, which features alternative and hip-hop music, lifestyle, extreme sports and gaming content produced for the Boost Mobile audience.

GoTV produces more than 15 hours of broadcast material each day.

"Our made-for-mobile content is literally 300 original episodes of two to three minutes for each episode," Ellsworth said. "That is a massive amount of content for mobile distribution."

Ellsworth likened the cell phone explosion to cable TV when it started in the 1980s.

"We are growing as fast as these handsets can be put in the hands of these consumers," Ellsworth said.

Tibbets says he and his colleagues came up with the term "mobi-sode," referring to mobile phone episodes, when he was running the Fox Lab.

"The first ones we did were 'Love and Hate' and 'Sunset Hotel,' both of which launched in February 2005 on Verizon's V-Cast series. They were the original dramatic mobile phone series."

Wrong numbers

For all the potential, the mobile phone landscape is strewn with the carcasses of failures.

ESPN provided one of the more high-profile headers earlier this year. Looking to capitalize on its pre-eminent position in the enormous and lucrative sports market, the cable giant began selling a cell phone in early 2006 with which consumers could order up scores, stats, clips and almost any sports-related item over the phone. By September, however, parent company the Walt Disney Co. pulled the plug on the operation. Disney's loss was estimated at $30 million.

Cell phone industry analyst Philip Marshall of the Yankee Group has a less-than-glowing outlook on the mobile phone content universe.

"It's a space that's hot at the moment," Marshall said. "My impression is that there's too much emphasis on building. We don't believe that the business models have sufficient maturity in both the types of services that are being offered and the way in which content has to be modified."

MobiTV, a mobile content provider based in Emeryville, is one of the biggest competitors for GoTV. It has more than 1 million subscribers and that number is growing.

"The entertainment industry is really interested in mobile phones because they're starting to see the benefits of this market," said Jason Taylor, global communications director for MobiTV. "They've all been created and paid for. It's a new medium, a new revenue stream for everyone."

GoTV Networks Inc.

Year Founded: 2005

Core Business: Providing news, entertainment and sports content to be broadcast on cell phones to distributors and consumers

Employees in 2005: 40

Employees in 2006: 80

Goal: To put its content onto the cell phones of 25 percent of the estimated 220 million cell phone users in the United States

Driving Force: To capitalize on its early entry into the cell phone content sector through its relationships with large telecommunications firms

BY DAN COX

Staff Reporter