Interview
MobiTV Offers Live Television Programming On Cell Phones (Live on SYS-CON.TV)
Live Television Programming Now Available On Cell Phones of Cingular Wireless Subscribers
Feb. 9, 2005 12:00 AM
MobiTV, the world's first television network for mobile phones, announced at SYS-CON.TV that it has launched its live television service on Cingular Wireless, the largest wireless carrier in the U.S. Cingular is offering MobiTV on exclusive handsets such as the breakthrough RAZR to the affordable Motorola V180.
For MobiTV, this launch marks a significant milestone as the company moves into its second year of operations distributing its service on two of the nation's largest carriers. Within the past 60 days, the company has effectively doubled its potential market in the U.S. through an October launch on AT&T Wireless' mMode service, prior to AT&T's acquisition by Cingular, and today's launch on Cingular's MEdia Net service.
The newest television distribution medium since Satellite TV, MobiTV will be available to Cingular Wireless subscribers using the Nokia 6620, Motorola V3 (RAZR), Motorola V220, Motorola V180, and soon on the Motorola V400 and V600 handsets.
With MobiTV, Cingular subscribers can watch live news, sports and entertainment programming on 22 channels, including MSNBC, CNBC, ABC News Now, NBC Mobile, FOX Sports, Discovery, TLC, C-SPAN, and other music, sports, fashion, and comedy channels. "With MobiTV, we can offer our subscribers live TV that will satisfy news junkies, sports fans, music lovers or anyone wanting to be entertained while on the go," said Jim Ryan, vice president of data product management for Cingular Wireless. "Corresponding to our increasingly mobile lifestyles, it is no surprise that MobiTV is a very popular service in the market today, and we are happy to be able to provide the service and an array of video capable handsets to our customers."
"It's just one short year since we launched MobiTV and, already, watching TV while on the move has become part of daily life for hundreds of thousands of cell phone users," said Phillip Alvelda, Chairman and CEO of Idetic, Inc., the company that developed MobiTV. "Launching MobiTV on the nation's largest voice and data network is tremendous validation for the potential for our broadcast media service. We really are delivering the long-imagined promise of mobile television to cell phone users."
MobiTV can be purchased directly from the phone. To do this, the consumer should:
- Go to MEdia Net home
- Select NEWS
- Select MobiTV :: Live TV
- Follow the onscreen prompt to get MobiTV
After downloading the service, MobiTV will be launched from the phone's Main Menu. The fee for MobiTV on the Cingular network is $9.99 per month, and the company is offering a free three-day trial so prospective customers can "Try Before You Buy." Because MobiTV uses data, not voice, minutes, Cingular highly recommends that customers also subscribe to a MEdia Works Package to provide unlimited data services and help subscribers avoid unexpected charges.
About Wireless News DeskWBT News Desk brings you all the latest and greatest news from the world of wireless business and technology, including breaking news, technical articles and feature stories written by the world's leading experts of mBusiness.