June 29, 2005
French firm bets on TV service for cellphone
Fancy watching a French comedy on the Paris Metro? The quickening race to make mini-televisions out of mobile telephones means entertainment like "Les Guignols" - the look-alike puppets that mock the French political establishment - should be literally within a commuter's grasp this week.
As of this week, the French pay-TV company Canal Plus Groupe, which is controlled by Vivendi Universal, plans to give subscribers to Vivendi's SFR cellphone service access to about 20 television channels over their phones.
It will mark the first time a broadcaster has migrated a selection of its own channels onto a mobile platform. In the past, telephone operators like SFR's rival Orange, owned by France Télécom, had to negotiate with individual broadcasters to carry programs.
[via The IHT via Agenda Inc.]
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