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AT&T’s mobile TV service was expected by the end of 2007, then meant to launch back at the beginning of February; it’s now almost April, and there’s still no sign of it. However, the carrier has confirmed the rescheduled launch will take place in May, initially available for owners of the LG Vu (which presumably will be released before or at least by that point) and the Samsung Access. As expected, the service is provided by Qualcomm’s MediaFLO, and AT&T have secured two unique channels for their subscribers. AT&T did not, though, give any solid reason for the several-month delay in introducing the service:
“[We waited until May as it's] a brand new service on a brand new network, and two brand new devices” Mark Siegel, spokesperson, AT&T
Not only has AT&T declined to name the two exclusive channels, but it is yet to reveal pricing for the service. Rival Verizon Wireless, who already offer a mobile TV subscription to its users called V CAST that is also based on Qualcomm’s MediaFLO system, charge $15 a month for eight channels, rising to $25 for unlimited access, among other things, to basic video clips.
April 25th, 2008 at 8:16 am
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.