UK enters mobile TV fray with NTL-O2 trial

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The UK has become the latest country to join the clamour to launch television over mobile phones, with NTL and O2 unveiling details of a trial that includes Turner, Discovery and BSkyB.

The six-month trial will get underway in Oxford in July, following hot on the heels of similar initiatives from KPN in Holland and Canal+ in France.

NTL Broadcast is partnering with the O2 network operator to offer 16 channels to Nokia 7710 mobile phones, using DVB-H (digital video broadcast handheld), a technology that relies on existing dTV broadcasting standards.

Turner, which already makes its content available via Sprint TV and Verizon's V Cast mobile services in the US, will contribute CNN and Cartoon Network to the NTL-O2 trial.

Discovery, also involved in Sprint TV stateside, is another content partner, alongside BSkyB, which is offering its Sky News, Sky Sports News and Sky Travel channels. Shorts International and Chart Show Channels Ltd are also taking part.

Terry Howard, head of media business development at NTL Broadcast, said the trial had received "overwhelming interest" from across the broadcast and media sector.

"We’re delighted to be able to welcome on board the first batch of major broadcasters," said Howard. "We know from our own research that well over half of UK mobile users are very interested in watching their favourite TV programmes on their mobiles, which is why we are aiming to put together such a compelling channel line-up."

Mobile operators, broadcasters and production companies alike are all keen to see such research borne out in actual physical deployments of the technology and content services.

Companies like O2 are placing great store in consumer demand for mobile video content as a means of clawing back the vast sums spent on third generation network licenses.

Broadcasters are keen to be where their audiences are and with the rise of mobile and the internet as alternative media destinations, this increasingly means they're drifting away from TV.

For production companies, particularly in the UK, where new terms of trade give indies rights to their programmes' spin-off potential, mobile TV potentially offers a new source of revenue.

The DVB-H trials will aim to measure the extent to which mobile users want to watch full-length programmes as part of live channel line-ups or whether the 2.5G and 3G on-demand model, where people call up individual, made-for-mobile items, is preferable.

Source: c21 media

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