Technology makes the shift between TV, the Internet and mobile phone technology less clunky.

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BANFF, Alta. (CP) - So does anyone really want to watch shorter, choppier shows on their cellphone screens?
Some of world's top digital executives say consumers will buy into more of the rapidly evolving multiplatform universe when technology makes the shift between TV, the Internet and mobile phone technology less clunky.
"Right now you can hardly navigate a small, finite archive amount of content on a mobile device effectively," MTV Networks vice-president Ben White told a conference of digital content creators and decision makers Sunday in the Rocky Mountains.
MTV, with 150 channels worldwide, was a pioneer in creating made-for-mobile video. White says all but the most dedicated user finds the experience of flipping from mobile to broadband too frustrating to be worth the effort.
"But once you can get to those pieces of content more quickly and efficiently, people will start to say 'This really works, let me jump to that soccer clip I wanted.' "
The digital universe is evolving so quickly that it's impossible to say what consumers will be getting in five weeks or five months, much less in five years.
That means an explosion of both content and improved quality as technology catches up areas such as video sharing.
It's a bigtime gamble with potentially huge payoffs.
US-based ABI Research has forecast what is now a $200 million annual business will be worth $27 billion a year by 2010.
ABC executive Bernard Gershon says a deal to sell perfume from the soap opera All My Children through Wal-Mart and the TV show's website is bringing in more money than the network's mobile interests.
But the focus is the potential long run. Much of what ABC has done is to test the consumer appetite for the virtual circle.
ABC recently made episodes of popular shows Lost and Desperate Housewives available through iTunes for $1.99 each, the day after broadcast, from ABC.com. Gershon said the experiment was wildly successful: advertisers were clamouring to get on board, while the shows got millions of downloads.
Despite the fractured viewership that has come with the dozens of cable and satellite channels, American networks haven't lost out on advertising dollars. And Gershon says he's not worried that the multiple media platforms are splitting a finite amount of dollars.
"I think Google is pulling $9 billion out of the market for advertising, but TV advertising in the United States has not gone down," said Gershon. "It's still a multi-billion-dollar business. I think the pie overall has just gotten bigger."
Mobile phone technology is looking at subscription and pay-per download as well as advertising for revenue.
But Gershon doubts that the new digital options will replace television as a medium anytime soon.
"I think people will still want to watch high definition quality of Lost on a 60 inch television screen," he said.