AT&T to Launch MediaFLO Mobile TV Service in May

Telecom News Editorials Reports Glossary

7:00 am on March 31, 2008 | Category: Telecom Services, Television, Wireless

AT&T is expecting to launch its MediaFLO-based mobile television service sometime in May, at least five months later than originally expected.

The telecom giant announced a deal with Qualcomm, the San Diego-based developer of MediaFLO, in February 2007, with the goal of launching the service by the end of the fourth quarter. The launch date was pushed back, however, in order to “make sure the user experience is absolutely optimal,” according to AT&T spokesman, Mark Siegel.

AT&T’s primary competitor, Verizon Wireless, already carries live MediaFLO television channels as part of its V CAST Mobile TV service, for which it charges $13 to $25 per month on top of a user’s regular cell phone bill.

AT&T has not yet divulged pricing information for its service, but says that it will offer full-length news, entertainment, and sports content from eight MediaFLO channels, including CBS Mobile, Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile TV, FOX Mobile, MTV, NBC 2GO, NBC News2Go, and Nickelodeon. It will also come with two “exclusive channels,” which the company will officially announce soon.

The mobile TV service will initially be available on two AT&T handsets: the LG Vu and stereo speaker-equipped Samsung Access.

1 Comment »

RSS feed for comments on this post.

The new FLO service will find its competition in the MobiTV service which is also available on the AT&T network using 3G and is priced at $10 a month for the basic package. MobiTV has over 4 million customers across all the carriers it covers. However the broadcast content is expected to bring in a better viewing experience to the users.
In case of Verizon only about 4.6% of the users are reported to have opted for the FLO based Mobile TV service. The usage is expected to grow as the ecosystem of handsets and applications grows. There is a certain inertia for the users to change handsets just to be able to view mobile TV and the launch of iPhone in 2007 did not help in users buying more of FLOTV compatible handsets. MobiTV service on the other hand can be viewed on any phone supporting 3G or GPRS. It also does not help that the iPhones can not receive the transmissions.
This is however a common problem around the world where the users need to buy specific handsets with DVB-H or DMB-T tuners.

Comment by Amitabh Kumar — April 25, 2008 #