Qualcomm is giving up on the direct-to-consumer portion of its Flo TV mobile television subsidiary, according to a report from paidcontent.org.
The website reports Flo TV’s mobile television service will “wind down” by the end of this year.
AT&T and Verizon Wireless offer mobile television services through Flo TV, Flo itself sells a stand-alone personal television and Audiovox offers in-car entertainment systems equipped with Flo TV. Details have not yet emerged about how Qualcomm will reimburse customers if it decides to cancel the service.
Analyst Jeff Kagan believes Qualcomm decided to cancel Flo TV’s consumer-facing service because it wasn’t profitable.
“In the ’90s there were plenty of products and even companies who didn’t make money,” Kagan wrote in a research note. “But today if they don’t pull their own weight, they just don’t stick around. That is what I think happened here.”
The reported move comes after Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs voiced dissatisfaction earlier this year with Flo TV’s performance and suggested that the company’s technology could be used to provide carriers with datacasting service instead of consumer-facing mobile television service.
Qualcomm did not reply to requests for comment on the report by press time. Flo TV’s Web pages for its in-car mobile television system and personal television device were offline by press time.
