Mobile TV's Last Frontier: U.S. and Europe

Free-to-air mobile TV is common just about everywhere except the United States and Europe, where operator resistance, technical standards and licensing hurdles have interfered with the spread of the technology. But that may be about to change, according to one handset maker.

[via The New York Times]

Audiences, and Hollywood, Flock to Smartphones

It might be hard to imagine watching “The Office” on a screen no bigger than a business card. But tens of thousands of people — by the most conservative estimate — are already doing just that. The New York Times reports.

... Owners of iPhones and other smartphones are actually watching long episodes and sometimes complete films, so a growing number of media companies are vying for people’s mobile attention spans.

Read full article.

Fox Mobile rolls out subscription TV for smartphones

Fox Mobile Group on Wednesday unveiled a new wireless video subscription service called Bitbop, which it plans to launch in the spring. The LA Times Blog reports.

Bitbop will offer on-demand access to cable and broadcast TV shows from Fox's cable networks and NBC Universal for a $9.99 monthly fee.

By offering the mobile application as a free Internet download, Bitbop will be able to deliver mobile entertainment to any of the most popular mobile devices, including RIM's BlackBerry Curve, Apple's iPhone 3G and Motorola's Droid, regardless of which mobile phone carrier the subscriber uses.

Read full article.

CES: Local TV could spur mobile TV adoption

Mobile TV may finally hit the mainstream when cell phones throughout the U.S. are able to access local TV for free. News.com reports.

The Open Mobile Video Coalition, an organization made up of consumer electronics companies, broadcasters, and mobile TV companies, has finished a standard for new chips that will allow mobile devices, such as cell phones, to receive broadcast TV signals. The new technology is already making its way into prototype devices and is being shown off here at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Read full article in News.com.

Samsung Moment Becomes First Free US Mobile TV Phone

On Tuesday Samsung announced that the Moment would be the first phone to feature Mobile DTV, the new free-to-air mobile TV standard that's launching early this year. The Mobile DTV-equipped Moment will be part of a customer trial in Washington and Baltimore during the first quarter of 2010, Samsung said.

[via PCMag]

Blockbuster to Stream Video to Motorola Phones

Blockbuster and Motorola have just signed an agreement to pipe Blockbuster's OnDemand video service to select Motorola handsets, which would give consumers access to thousands of feature films on the go. PC Magazine reports.

According to the agreement, Motorola will preload an OnDemand app on the cell phones, though there's no word yet on which models this applies to. The app lets consumers rent or purchase titles that they would then download to the handsets.

Read full article.

3 offers free Sky TV on the Sony Ericsson W995

3 is offering its customers a saving of £5 a month when they purchase the Sony Ericsson W995. With exclusive access to Sky Mobile TV, customers of 3 will have access to live sports coverage as well as Sky Sports 1, 2, 3, Xtra and Sky Sports News. For the non sports fan, there will also be instant access to Sky Sports News.

[via Mobile Choice]

Watch full episodes of NBC shows on your iPhone

According to cnet reviews, if you point your mobile browser to m.nbc.com, you'll find you can watch full episodes of over a dozen NBC shows. Free!

Justin Timberlake wants you to pick up The Phone

The Phone game show, produced by Justin Timberlake, premieres on MTV Tuesday, April 21st at 10pm ET/PT.

The six episode series is a one hour cinematic competition that simulates what it would be like for viewers to be dropped into the middle of an adventure movie and win up to $50,000.

[via Monsters and Critics]

Streaming TV Episodes Coming to Blackberry

RIM is planning to announce a full-episode television service for BlackBerry users as early as next week at CTIA. The service is part of RIM’s effort to turn itself into an attractive multimedia option for non iPhone users. The streaming videos would most certainly coincide with the release of Blackberry App World.

[via GigaOM]

PacketVideo - TV on your iPhone

At Barcelona's Mobile World Congress, PacketVideo demonstrated its mobile broadcast receiver that turns Wi-Fi-enabled phones and personal media players into mobile TVs. iPhone World reports.

The way it works is PacketVideo receiver decodes digital TV signal, and then sends it wirelessly which then is caught and play backed by the device, like iPhone. The mobile broadcast receiver is compatible with many industry-leading phones, iPhone including.

The receiver also allows viewing premium channels, as well as ensures optimum rendering of the TV signal on the playback device.

[via NewTeeVee]

CBS, NBC Shows Resonate Via Handhelds

According to Nielsen Mobile, CBS’ content is among the most popular in the burgeoning medium, as viewers are beginning to turn to mobile devices to take in their favorite hour-long soap, or even that week’s episode of CSI. MediaWeek reports

NBC is drawing the largest audience to mobile video, per Nielsen. According to the network’s internal numbers, this past fall NBC.com generated 1.8 million mobile video streams, 1.3 million of which were full episodes of shows like Heroes, The Office and even Lipstick Jungle.

Those sorts of numbers are upending conventional wisdom about mobile content—that it has to be short in length and shot with a tiny screen in mind.

“Long-form is doing better for us than short form, and yes we’re surprised,” said Steve Andrade, general manager of NBC.com. “But we shouldn’t be surprised, since we had the same thought online, and that’s proven not to be true.”

However, what is different about the Web versus the mobile Web is that users are far less inclined to search aimlessly, and thus they’re unlikely to find a lot of new options. “What we find is that discovery is a problem,” said Jeff Sellinger, senior vp of CBS Mobile. That’s why familiar, well-marketed shows like CSI break through, while made-for-mobile shows can struggle to get noticed.

Sellinger said the network is still producing original mobile series, and has scored with easily accessible shows like Daily Delivery, which provides short bursts of Hollywood news. (That show is nearing 1,000 episodes.)

Trial has TV shows broadcast to mobile phones

A mobile TV trial in Sydney is broadcasting nine channels to participants' mobile phones, including Channel 7, ABC, Fox Sports and MTV, in a service that could be widely available by the end of the year.

Mobile TV broadcasts similar to traditional radio and television signals and can be picked up by a receiver inside a mobile, avoiding the expensive practice of downloading video clips to a handset.

[via Courier Mail]

Watch The Obama Inauguration From Your iPhone With Ustream

UStream Ustream has developed an application for the 3G iphone that allows you to watch Ustream anywhere with everyone.

Regardless of where you are at and what you are doing, you can choose to be in the moment with others in a shared live experience around a live event. If you are out-on-the-town and know that a guest speaker at a major conference is “going live” and want to watch live and be-in-the-crowd, then you can with this application.

You will be able to watch the Inauguration LIVE on Ustream with chat.

[UStream Blog via TechCrunch]

Sony Ericsson to debut first PlayNow kiosks in Asia

Starting this month, Sony Ericsson mobile phone users will be able to walk into select stores in Asia to download full-length movies, TV series, games and DRM-free music onto their handsets via a dedicated download kiosk. CNET Asiareports.

The new service, which comes as part of a content licensing partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment, will have over 23,000 DRM-free songs, 30 movie titles, four TV series and 25 games at launch. Sony Pictures is the studio behind the Will Smith's blockbuster Hancock and James Bond filmQuantum of Solace.

Broadcasts to mobile devices to start in 22 cities

TV stations in 22 U.S. cities announced Thursday that they will start broadcasting their signals this year in a format designed to be received by mobile devices like cell phones, MP3 players, GPS units and in-car entertainment systems. [via Cellular News]

Unlike current mobile TV services, the broadcasts would most likely be free, and would provide access to local news, weather and traffic updates. The broadcasts could also fill an important role in emergencies like hurricanes, since they can be received by portable devices and don't jam up under load like cell-phone networks.

But will there be any gadgets on the market that can receive those signals? That's less clear, since there are no firm launch dates for compatible products.

Read full article.

Coming soon to cellphones: Free, over-the-air TV

Millions of consumers by year's end should be able to watch free, over-the-air television on cellphones, PDAs and other portable digital devices as the result of initiatives that will be unveiled Thursday by some of the nation's largest TV station owners and electronics manufacturers. USA Today reports.

... At least 63 stations in 22 cities — including New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston and Washington — will transmit news, entertainment and sports to portable devices this year, according to the broadcast industry's Open Mobile Video Coalition (OMVC).

The initial group will include affiliates of ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, CW, ION and PBS. Each city will have a different mix. Most will simulcast regularly scheduled shows.

In conjunction with the announcement, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, manufacturers including LG, Samsung, Zenith and Kenwood will display mobile receivers due in stores later this year.

Babelgum launches free video to mobile

Free video to mobile phones became reality on Wednesday in cell phone-crazy Italy, where Vodafone users with certain late-generation smart phones can now watch video content from Internet TV operator Babelgum, free of data charges. Cellular News reports.

The Italian launch will be followed by the rollout in Britain on Thursday, with other countries, including the United States, to follow, Babelgum said.

The Babelgum-Vodafone alliance will offer Babelgum's content free with no additional data charges to Vodafone clients with an iPhone 3G, Nokia N95 or 6210, and will eventually be supported by advertising.

Playboy's new mobile reality mobisodes

Starting today, Playboy is offering downloadable "mobisodes" –- mobile-based video shorts -– that show three interns hard at work. The shorts, filmed last summer in and around Playboy’s New York office on Fifth Avenue in midtown, are free.

[via USA Today]

Coming to Tiny Screens All Over the Place

Watching TV and movies on cellphones is so common in South Korea, people no longer think twice about it, but so far, mobile video hasn't produced big revenue gains for its providers. Yet South Korea's experience can provide valuable lessons for companies in countries still on the threshold of the mobile-video revolution.

Read full article in The Wall Street Journal.

Joost gets back on our radar with iPhone app

Friday, Joost released an iPhone app that lets users stream and watch any of Joost's 46,000-plus videos for free. News.com reports with a rave review.

Say what you will about Joost's library of content, the concept behind this app is fantastic. The ability to stream a movie, TV show, or other piece of video content on the go is great. I know the technology is nothing revolutionary--after all the iPhone has had a YouTube app, complete with streaming video, since the device launched. Even given that, when you load up Men in Black on Joost, it just feels like a whole different ballgame. This isn't a video of a dog on a skateboard anymore.

This is real, Hollywood-produced content, delivered to your phone, for free.

Research finds mobile TV as unseductive as ever, though VOD seems interesting

Recent reserach has found that mobile TV adoption sits at just 1% now, and interest in all types of mobile TV is just over 50% of what it was in 2006. engadget:mobile reports.

The report places the blame on "patchy network coverage, limited channel lineup, poor video quality, excessive prices and a penchant among high-end phone users for business handsets rather than video phones."

15% of those surveyed on the topic would actually enjoy watching recorded TV shows later on their phone.

Sprint Nextel Sponsors a Four-Episode Heroes Microseries

Sprint Nextel is sponsoring a four-episode microseries that spans three different platforms--online, TV and mobile--that debuts tonight, called Heroes: Destiny, a spin-off of the NBC prime time hit, Heroes. Each of the five to seven minute episodes will debut Monday nights during November.

[via Media Week]

Sony Ericsson YouTube Phone

You are now able to shoot a video with your mobile phone and then - click, click, click - upload your latest exploits to YouTube. The IHT reports.

The new Sony Ericsson W595 selling in Italy by 3 Italia is the first cameraphone to offer a YouTube uploader function.

After uploading a video, the user receives a text message with the Internet address where the video can be accessed. There is also a key with the YouTube logo that links directly to the site's vast array of videos.

Mobile phones to take on Taleban propaganda in Afghanistan

A plan to use mobile phones to combat Taleban propaganda in Afghanistan is being considered by the UK Government, reports the Times Online.

"Mobile phones would be distributed by non-governmental organisations to Afghans so that they could make and share their own videos to contradict the prevailing Taleban message, according to a BBC report.

Anti-Western films already circulate on Afghanistan's estimated six million mobiles and are spread among the country's half a million internet users.

The new media plan, said to be devised by an outside consultant to the Foreign Office, envisages having up to 100 short films made by Afghans ready in time for a film festival next summer according to the BBC.

Whitehall officials say the aim is to deprive the Taleban of its virtual monopoly on propaganda using new media, the BBC says.

The coalition's reputation has been damaged by the spread of mobile footage such as the film distributed after a US-led raid in August that showed rows of bodies of children and babies in a makeshift morgue."

Presidential debates on mobile

CBS News will be airing the presidential debates on its MediaFlo channel and carrier decks tonight. Networks are increasingly looking to MediaFLO and carriers' streaming TV services to get first-time viewers.

[via mocoNews.net]

CW's Shows Go Mobile

The CW offering includes full episodes and short clips of all its series. AdWeek reports.

"CW TV offering includes full episodes and short clips of all its shows, including America's Next Top Model and Gossip Girl. Episodes run between two to five minutes

The only exception is Smallville, due to a contractual syndication agreement that precludes the network from incorporating it into the lineup."

Movies come to UK iTunes

British iTunes users will be able to download hit movies for rent or purchase for the first time, Apple has announced.

More than 700 films will be available to British users with more than 100 available in high-definition.

The movies can be watched on iPods, iPhones and Apple TVs, as well as laptops and computers.

[via Metro]

Shared Solitary Serial Experiences

Two Tokyoites - on the right of the photo engaged in the same task watching the same television program on their mobile phone each using their own device, with comments passed back and forth. Shared experiences, yet personal device ownership gently separating the experience compared to current norms.

A fabulous picture from everyone's favourite Jan Chipchase.

Samsung joins forces with LG, Harris on mobile TV

Samsung Electronics is combining efforts with fellow Korean electronics maker LG Electronics to develop a new standard for mobile TV broadcasts, the companies announced Wednesday.

Their technology will be competing with two others to become the standard for mobile TV, a decision that rests with the TV industry's technical standards-setting body for digital broadcasts.

[via Reuters]

NBC Streaming Full Episodes of 30 Rock and the Office to iPhones

NBC is streaming full episodes of 30 Rock and The Office to iPhones (and touches) in Quicktime, for free, with no ads.

[via Gizmodo]

Mobile TV Spreading in Europe and to the U.S.

Every day in Switzerland, 40,000 people watch a 100-second television news broadcast on their cellphones. In Italy, a million people pay as much as 19 euros each ($29) a month to watch up to a dozen mobile TV channels. The New York Times reports.

"... Japan is the leader in direct mobile television, with 20 million cellphones equipped with TV receivers, followed by South Korea with 8.2 million, according to In-Stat, a research and consulting firm in Scottsdale, Ariz.

In-Stat estimated that there were 29.7 million mobile TV viewers worldwide at the end of 2007. That is expected to almost double, to 56.9 million, at the end of 2008, driven by growth in Japan.

Italy has been an early leader in Europe, with service beginning in 2006. The largest mobile TV broadcaster on the Continent is 3 Italia, a cellular operator owned by Hutchison Whampoa of Hong Kong, with 800,000 customers, about 10 percent of its total phone clients. The million Italian viewers watch up to a dozen channels."

AT&T to spend millions to push TV service on cell phones

AT&T Inc. will promote its new live TV service for mobile phones with a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign, a bid to popularize the idea of watching TV on handsets. The service, operated by Qualcomm Inc., will be available today (Sunday).

[via the Chicago Sunday Times]

CinemaNow to offer movie orders via cell phone

Privately held digital entertainment provider CinemaNow said on Tuesday that U.S. consumers would be able to use their cell phones to view movie trailers and order full-length movies to watch on their home television or computer through its mobile website.

The service, offered on Web-capable phones at href="http://uvumobile.mobi/cn">http://uvumobile.mobi/cn, would let U.S. consumers immediately buy or rent a movie when they hear about a new offering while they are out with friends.

[via Reuters]

Full-length shows, even movies, growing on cellular

Forget short clips and "mobisodes." Cellphone providers are ramping up their full-episode TV offerings, from "Lost" to "The Office", and even movies. USA Today reports.

"Today, only about 7% of mobile subscribers (cell and data) watch video on their phones, he says. But the industry is poised for major growth: Mobile video revenues at domestic carriers jumped to $308 million in the last three months of 2007 from $112 million in the same period a year earlier, according to Nielsen Mobile.

... Mobile users are willing to watch for extended periods, says Nielsen Mobile's Nic Covey. Nearly half (47%) say their average session lasts 15 minutes or longer; 25% watch 30 minutes or more.

Says Covey: "Enough consumers watch mobile video for those lengths of time and enough consumers are interested in name-brand programming that this level of mobile viewing could be just as big an opportunity as clips."

Hulu Video Service Going Mobile?

Talking at the National Association of Broadcasters convention, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar implied that their video service could be moving to mobile phones, saying that they're "ripe for the Hulu experience."

[via Gizmodo]

Local TV Station Owners Push Mobile TV

According to the AP, owners of more than 800 local TV stations where ad revenue has plunged recently said they've formed a group that's testing three standards for s ending local digital TV signals to cell phones, laptops and other mobile devices.

"The Open Mobile Video Coalition said at the National Association of Broadcasters meeting in Las Vegas that it will push for an open standard by next year that would allow members to bypass cell phone companies and tap into what they think will be a $2 billion market for mobile advertising.

The station owners say transmitting directly to mobile devices would give them a third means of delivering local programming - and capturing revenue - along with broadcasting to TVs and streaming it on station-owned Web sites."

New Satellite Will Supply TV To Cell Phones

A satellite that could affect cell phone service headed for space Monday afternoon, reports Orlando's Wesh 2.

The satellite is designed to provide 10 to 15 live television stations for mobile phones in the future. It is powerful enough to not require a dish to receive broadcast.

It's first-of-its kind technology. It cost an estimated $500 million to build, launch and test the TV satellite."

Television could be streamed to iPhones

According to The Guardian, two leading UK broadcasters are exploring a service that would allow live streaming of their programmes to Apple's iPhone.

"London-based web TV technology specialist Best Before has developed server-based technology called Millicent that allows a broadcaster or other content producer to provide an edited video feed to be watched on the iPhone without needing to hack into the handset.

iPhone users would be able to view live TV on their handset through Safari, the Apple device's web browser, using a local wireless network. The iPhone's data connection through the Edge network would also work but would be less reliable."

France Telecom signs with HBO, Warner and Gaukmont

France Telecom has signed contracts with a number of film companies, including HBO, Warner and Gaumont, as it seeks to become a major player in the movie distribution market, France Telecom's CEO said in an interview published in Les Echos newspaper.

France Telecom's Didier Lombard told Les Echos the company wants to offer more than 1 000 movies per year to viewers via cable television, Internet and mobile phone.

The films will be offered via six channels, and the client will build its own package of channels and pay a monthly subscription, Lombard told Les Echos.

France Telecom's offering will be a direct competitor to Vivendi's Canal Plus.

[via ITWeb]

Fox Business Channel debuts on MobiTV and 47% of US Consumers Don’t Know if they have Mobile TV

Mobile TV headlines:

-- Fox Business Channel debuts on MobiTV - Mobile entertainment services provider MobiTV announced a content licensing deal to offer Fox Business Network as a live, linear channel identical in programming scope to the version broadcast on cable and satellite. [via FierceMobile Content]

-- Nearly Half of U.S. Consumers Don’t Know if they have Mobile TV - A QuickPlay Media survey found that 47% of consumers don’t know whether or not their carrier offers mobile TV and video content. It seems as though service providers aren’t getting the word out about the wonders of mobile TV and video. [via MobileCrunch]

'Sopranos' on Canadian cell phones

Bell Canada on Tuesday began delivering full episodes of "The Sopranos" to its mobile phone subscribers as part of an agreement with HBO.

The Canadian phone giant's customers can also now watch on-demand episodes of "Entourage," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Tell Me You Love Me" and "Sex and the City" as well as stand-up comedy shows for CAN$10 ($9.75) a month plus browser usage fees.

The product is initially available in English-speaking Canada, with a dubbed French-language version set for launch in May.

[via Reuters/Hollywood Reporter]

Sony Films headed to Mobile Phones

Sony Pictures Television is looking to launch the first movie network on mobile phones in the United States.

"The studio has signed a deal with AT&T and MediaFlo USA to launch the linear channel as one of two exclusive channels coming to the newly announced AT&T Mobile TV with FLO service in May.

The channel, to be known as PIX, will be stocked with such titles as "Ghostbusters," "Philadelphia" and "Stand by Me."

[via Reuters/Hollywood Reporter]

Live from your mobile. The next big thing?

What would happen if everyone, anywhere, could have their own live television station from a mobile phone? The BBC has an idea.

"A number of services including Qik and Flixwagon, are competing to make "live" the next big thing in web video, and YouTube is poised to introduce its own live service.

... Eran Hess, the chief executive of Flixwagon, has made a deal with MTV which has seen the station give phones with Flixwagon software installed to what it calls "Street Journalists" to cover the primaries in the United States.

Their clips are shown live on the web - whether it's an Obama victory speech or vox pops with New York voters - and some make it onto MTV itself.

Eran Hess also revealed that he had just done a deal with an Israeli news channel which will supply similar phones to citizens in the towns of Sderot and Ashkelon where rockets fired from Gaza have been landing.

So a phone and a piece of software - and a 3g network - are you all need now to start putting your message across to a live audience. It promises to give new vigour to the whole idea of citizen journalism, and poses a challenge to existing broadcasters.

Because of course these citizen journalists are not bound by any code of taste, decency, truth or impartiality, which could give their broadcasts a dangerous, edgy quality which might appeal more to viewers than the professional version of television news.

Welcome to a future where everything may be televised - live. I'm not entirely sure I like the idea."

On Qik you can watch and listen to Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, filmed by Robert Scoble for Fast Company.

Hands on with the BBC iPlayer - on the iPhone

The BBCiPlayer is now available as a beta for the iPhone and iPod touch. Streaming only, reports Tech.co.uk.

"We're not using the new Apple SDK, nor are we using the much-rumoured Flash for iPhone (no - we haven't seen it, either). Instead, we're creating 516Kbps streams (400Kbps H.264 video, 116Kbps AAC audio) that show off BBC programmes brilliantly on an iPhone," says Anthony Rose, head of Digital Media Technologies at the BBC in a blog post about the launch."