MobiTV is leading a US charge to bring TV to the mobile across Europe. It has opened a London office and is currently in negotiations with European content partners and operators.
MobiTV is leading a US charge to bring TV to the mobile across Europe. It has opened a London office and is currently in negotiations with content partners and operators to launch a European network.
Desiree Rodriguez, MobiTVs project leader for Europe, believes the company is entering a market with virtually no competition. She says: Yes, video content is available now. But in terms of packaged subscription-based channels, theres very little out there. We know Europe is hungry for this and were looking forward to replicating our US business model here. US handsets can support frame rates of over 15 frames per second. MobiTV says performance is higher on Europes 3G networks.
MobiTV has made significant strides in its home territory. In its first year it rolled out on Sprint PCS, AT&T Wireless and Cingular Wireless, grew from eight channels to 23 and sealed major content deals with the likes of Major League Baseball, NBC, Fox, Discovery and The Comedy Channel.
Until live mobile TV arrives, Europe will no doubt continue to show its nascent appetite for downloadable video. Among many recent announcements, Virgin Mobile said it will create custom-made video content to drive 3G take-up, 3 confirmed more than 10m music videos were watched by its customers in six months and Ministry Of Sound announced plans for its own video channel.
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