Mobile TV to Cover Barcelona Mobile Event
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, Feb. 16-19, 2009 at Barcelona.
The MediaFLO network will broadcast at the show venue and throughout the
city of Barcelona. Mobile
TV market is getting hot.
The
event organizers have announced that
two-time
Academy Award-winning actor and director Kevin
Spacey will come as the host of the MOFILM Mobile Short Film
Festival at the
GSMA's Mobile World Congress in
Barcelona. And Chevrolet will present the winning filmmaker with a
Chevrolet 'Cruze' compact family car.
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.
Also,
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. More consumers want to
receive free, local broadcasts on their handset, it said.
In
Barcelona,
the
MediaFLO demonstration will feature over 30 channels of content,
including a collection of Spanish programming from Abertis, and
international channels from France24, ProSieben and others.
IP
datacasting, Clipcasting media and interactive services for voting,
chatting and m-commerce, as well as updating social networking sites
while watching mobile TV shows, will round out the applications on
display.
Devices
will include commercial and pre-commercial handsets, mobile TV receivers
and Wi-Fi accessories for MediaFLO that allow Wi-Fi enabled smartphones
to receive live television broadcasts using the MediaFLO platform. The
Wi-Fi accessories are concept devices intended to show a possible means
for bringing broadcast mobile TV services to the large installed base of
smartphone users, says Qualcomm.
The
citywide MediaFLO network is supported by three transmitter sites placed
throughout the city of Barcelona. The 8 MHz network will run on European
Channel 56 (754 center frequency).
The
MediaFLO broadcast mobile TV platform is designed for the delivery of
entertainment and information, including streaming video and audio,
Clipcasting media, IP datacasting and interactive services.
MediaFLO technology is an open, globally recognized technology
standardized by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and
recommended by ITU-R for the broadcasting of multimedia and data
applications, says Qualcomm.
