Watching TV that Travels
Modern-day TVs want to come out of the confines of your living room.
Among a slew of mobile TV offers, Solaris Mobile, a company providing
satellite-based networks for mobile services, is going to launch live
mobile television broadcasting demonstrations at the
Mobile World
Congress in Barcelona Feb.16– 19. That will also include in-car mobile
TV.
The
European company, located in Ireland, and its tech partners will provide
mobile TV solutions based on the DVB-SH (hybrid satellite/terrestrial
standard) by moving vehicles on two different demonstration platforms
and new handsets and multimedia players.
In a
similar initiative, wireless tech company Qualcomm and Europe’s operator
Abertis Telecom will collaborate to bring a
live MediaFLO broadcast mobile TV
demonstration to Mobile World Congress. The MediaFLO network will
broadcast at the show venue and throughout the city of Barcelona.
Mobiles
are fast becoming portable TV boxes for consumers. And companies are
aggressively targeting this emerging market. For example,
MobiTV and CBS Mobile are offering TV on your
mobiles. MobiTV now delivers full-length episodes and clips
from CBS Mobile, a channel featuring primetime shows.
The
programs include "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Numb3rs," "CSI: NY,"
and "The Young and the Restless." Viewers will also be able to access
video on demand news, sports, and comedy clips from CBS Mobile.
Qik, a live mobile video streaming platform,
says it’s the first live mobile video product to launch on mass market
mobile phones.
Consumers worldwide were showing interest in
mobile access to local TV broadcasts of the 2008
Beijing Games. This was revealed by Telegent Systems, a
company that makes television mobile with its single-chip mobile TV
solutions, from the results of a global survey conducted to assess
consumer interest in watching the 2008 Beijing Games on mobile handsets.
More consumers want to receive free, local broadcasts on their handset,
it said.
The
in-car Infotainment services from Solaris Mobile will be demonstrated within a fleet of 5
Mercedes E Class Series cars provided by the partner Europcar. Each car
is equipped with the same set-up, including two embedded screens for the
rear seats and one embedded screen in the dashboard.
While
travelling around Barcelona, passengers can watch live TV-channels, such
as Euronews and Eurosport. Abertis Telecom, a leading provider of
broadcast and telecommunications infrastructure in Spain, has joined
hands with Solaris Mobile to provide coverage of the TV Broadcast
Channels to the City of Barcelona and its surrounding areas from its
telecom towers. These towers are equipped with the Unique Broadband
Systems Ltd terrestrial repeaters.
Solaris
Mobile, a Eutelsat and SES Astra joint venture, is set up to develop
next generation mobile TV and automotive services via satellite. Its
corporate headquarters in Dublin officially opened in June 2008. The
company plans to provide video, radio and data plus two-way
communication to a range of handheld and vehicle-mounted mobile
devices.
