Mobile phones to receive digital TV

net1

Soon you can pick up digital TV on pocket-size set
The technology marks another milestone in the rapid development of the mobile phone

The world's first pocket-sized digital television set allowing viewers to watch their favourite programmes on the bus, train or at their desk, is set to be launched in the UK next spring.
Mobile phone operator O2 and a division of cable company NTL have teamed up with Sony and Nokia to develop a mobile device with a built-in digital TV receiver capable of allowing viewers to watch everything from soap operas to live football on the move.

It marks another milestone in the rapid development of the mobile phone, which within a decade has been transformed from a brick-sized gadget to a slimline design-led set capable of taking pictures, downloading music and receiving news headlines.

While video can be received by phones, at the moment digital TV can only be picked up in the home through a dish, cable connection or Freeview receiver.

Trials will start in Oxfordshire and, if successful, the service could go nationwide.

NTL's broadcast division, which owns a network of television transmitters across the UK, is launching the pilot service with 500 O2 customers.

It has enabled nine of its transmitter masts within a 120 square kilometre radius of Oxford to handle the new technology.

Participants in the trial will be able to tune in to 16 pay-TV channels and the companies involved have promised that the digital pictures will be pin sharp, marking a significant step forward from the hand-held analogue televisions that have been on the market for some time.

The trial will allow the companies involved to test the concept and find out whether consumers are interested watching TV on their mobile phones.

Sky is also planning a big marketing push behind its new Sky Plus box, with four times the storage capacity of the existing digital video recorder and, crucially, the ability to export programmes and films to external portable devices at some point in the future.

Nokia, which has developed one of the handsets that will be used during the trial, has already enjoyed success with integrating FM radio receivers into its phones and is working on versions that can receive digital radio.