—Free mobile TV services cutting into broadcast-like services: Mobile broadcast TV services are set to reach $2.7 billion in annual revenues by 2013, a much lower return than previously projected because free-to-air services will gain popularity, according to a new report from Juniper Research. Free-to-air TV services are seeing quick success in Japan, China and South Korea. Operators in other countries are moving in that direction as well, hoping that advertising will make up for any revenues they’d forfeit by delivering free TV programming. Although 330 million wireless subscribers are expected to own a broadcast TV-enabled handset by 2013, less than 14 percent will pay for mobile TV services, the firm predicts. Analyst Windsor Holden: “The development of terrestrial TV-capable receivers with comparatively low power consumption, and the availability of these receivers in mass market handsets, throws into question the business case for the deployment of a dedicated network in many markets.” In turn, the success of free-to-air mobile TV is creating more opportunities for streaming TV services, which gives carriers a gap in the market to offer video-on-demand services over cellular networks. Juniper also predicts the U.S. will be the largest market for mobile broadcast TV services in five years, followed by South Korea and China. Finally, MediaFLO services are expected to be deployed in parts of Asia and the UK by the end of 2010. Release.

—Presidential debates on mobile: CBS (NYSE: CBS) News will be airing the presidential debates on its MediaFLO channel and carrier decks tonight. Networks are increasingly looking to MediaFLO and carriers’ streaming TV services to get first-time viewers. Much like NBC tried with the Olympics, everyone in the chain wants to bring people to mobile TV and other content for the first time. Whether the presidential debates hold any water, time will tell, but the more programming these companies bring to mobile the better. None of the mobile TV services in the U.S. have reached a critical mass yet and until that bridge is crossed advertisers will be hard to find.