News
Sky goes with the FLO
Stuart O'Brien May 9 2006, 2:30pm
UK pay TV giant BSkyB will trial Qualcomm's MediaFLO broadcast mobile TV technology in Cambridge this summer.
The closed technical trial signals the European debut of MediaFLO, which is the third broadcast mobile TV platform to make it to the UK after trials of DVB-H by Nokia and O2 and the commercial launch of BT Movio's DAB-based services by Virgin Mobile later this year.
The FLO trial will comprise 100 handsets and may eventually be widened to include members of the general public. Separate trials with other UK broadcasters have not been ruled out and Qualcomm is in discussions with local mobile operators, none of which are involved at this stage.
Qualcomm's director of international business, Omar Javaid, told ME that channel capacity and cost of deployment are FLO's key differentiators in what is becoming a crowded market, arguing that broadcasters and operators could save "hundreds of millions of pounds" and offer "twice the number of channels" if they opted for FLO over DVB-H and DAB.
"The purpose of the trial isn't to prove the business case of mobile TV - most of the major players are well beyond that stage - it's to allow companies like Sky to evaluate FLO from a technical standpoint," said Javaid.
Qualcomm is expected to announce FLO trials in other European countries, but is staying tight-lipped on location and timetable. Italy would appear to be a logical candidate, however, considering Sky's presence in the market and 3 Italy's impending launch of DVB-H services.
Outside of Europe, Qualcomm has formed a MediaFLO joint venture in Japan with local operator KDDI and is working closely with Verizon Wireless in the US.
BSkyB, which has 10.8 million cable and satellite subscribers in the UK, participated in the O2 and Nokia-led DVB-H trial in Oxford last year and streams channels to Vodafone's 3G customers.
