Brits don’t want to watch TV on their mobile phones, if the sales of Virgin’s Lobster handset are anything to go by. Virgin Mobile has so far managed to tempt fewer than 10,000 buyers to part with their cash to watch Neighbours on the go.

Virgin Mobile, which was bought out by cable company NTL last year, ran a £2.5m advertising campaign starring Pamela Anderson to try and hook users.

However, even a recent price cut for the Lobster mobile phone has failed to tempt buyers.

Customers only need to be on a £25 contract to get the handset and the television service for free.

Pre-pay customers can buy the Lobster for £99.99 – halved from £199.99 – and get the TV channels free for 90 days.

After that, pre-pay users must spend £5 a month to keep it running.

The TV service is transmitted using DAB Digital Radio signals that are picked up by the Lobster mobile phone.
 
Live TV channels available on the service include BBC1, ITV1, Channel 4, E4 and ITN News.

Virgin Mobile would not confirm the figures, which came from industry insiders, but said the service had been affected because there was only a single handset that could receive it.

Virgin Mobile expects to launch further mobile TV handsets later this year and may also allow content to be downloaded and viewed later.