Mobile or cell TV phone is going to become a prevalent part of our lives. In the near future it will be impossible to imagine that our world could get along without this technology which enables to watch and download live TV and streamed video. First off, all of us can a rough idea of what and for what purpose mobile phone is used in everyday life: it puts through people and nations, friends and foes, etc. Secondly, it’s a chance to write a love message, explain your ideas and feelings which you can’t say by word of mouth. And, of course, nowadays you have an opportunity to use it like a small TV set and walkman at the same time.
In early March, Verizon Wireless introduced an eight-channel service that broadcasts programming, much of it identical to that being shown on regular TV, including shows from CBS, Comedy Central, ESPN, Fox and NBC. The service, delivered over an $800 million network being built by Qualcomm Inc. and slated to expand to 20 channels, will also be offered later this year by AT&T Inc.’s Cingular Wireless under a recent deal.
Outside the United States, 400,000 people in Italy are using a cell TV service launched less than a year ago by the mobile carrier 3, a unit of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. Those customers, representing nearly 6 per cent of the carrier’s 7 million users, are paying as much as 29.99 euros ($40) extra per month to get TV on the go. In Korea, several-million have signed up for mobile TV services from TU Media Corp. and others since 2005.
Such a swift customer embrace would likely thrill Verizon, which is charging $15 to $25 a month for V Cast Mobile TV. The company, its revenue per subscriber stuck in the $50 range, won’t say how many customers have signed up for TV since the launch in roughly 20 markets, but there are some encouraging signs.
Yet while gadget lovers may flock to mobile TV, some players dispute the need for a separate, dedicated wireless network with its own frequency like Qualcomm’s MediaFlo and Modeo.
More than 1-million cellphone users worldwide are now paying for the service through Sprint and about 30 other wireless carriers.
“The only people trying to point out a strain on the cellular network are the people not operating a cellular network themselves,” said Phillip Alvelda, chief executive of MobiTV. He argues that network congestion will only become a problem when there are-millions of mobile TV users, by which time a new generation of robust wireless technologies may give cellular networks ample capacity.
Alvelda also contends that the mobile broadcast networks, limited to about 20 channels, run counter to the prevailing business trend exemplified by the YouTube video craze, where users can choose from a vast array of content. Where a broadcast service uses most of its bandwidth to send the same 20 channels to all subscribers, leaving little room for video on demand, a cellular TV service sends an individual wireless data stream to each phone with the program chosen by the user.
The companies also are looking at opportunities beyond just cellphones.
Now You Can Have Mobile TV Phone and Watch Video on the Web.
Mobile TV: Single Mobile TV Standard in EU.
NBC Universal And MobiTV Announce Mobile TV On Demand Service.
Verizon Wireless: Verizon launches live cell TV.
Technorati Tags: squint TV, mobile TV phone, cell TV, live TV, streamed video, TV set, videos
