3 hails to the Geek

News

Stuart O'Brien Jan 3 2007, 12:30pm

3 UK has launched geekTV, a made-for-mobile TV channel produced by Player X.

The channel offers a mix of entertainment brands such as Miami Vice and American Dad, original IP and user-generated content, updated weekly and targeted at 16-to-24-year-olds.

3 and Player X are also giving punters the option of viewing the content either as part of a looped stream or downloaded to the handset.

For example, a user can watch one episode of the Player X-commissioned Dom Joly show on the geekTV stream and then go and buy all the others from the portal as a download.

The channel's user-generated content is augmented by a geekTV sub-section on 3's SeeMeTV platform. 3 customers can send in their clips by texting 3geek to a shortcode, with the best shown on geekTV and eligible for prizes.

Player X CEO Tony Pearce said: "We are talking to more operators and also to handset manufacturers because we're convinced this channel is an important addition to the mobile content area."

GeekTV originally launched as a downloads portal on O2 i-mode last year, but 3 is the first operator to offer a streamed version of the channel.

Player X recently announced a deal with Universal Mobile Entertainment to make mobile 'retrosodes' of 1970s TV shows Knight Rider and Magnum, P.I.