3GScottishUser
12th May 2005, 11:51 AM
From The Guardian (12/05/2005):
Mobile phone users are to get access to television channels including Sky News, CNN, Cartoon Network and Discovery as part of a long-awaited British trial of handsets fitted with digital TV receivers.
Television mast operator NTL Broadcast has teamed up with O2 to launch the trial, offering 16 TV channels to mobile users in Oxford.
Those taking part in the test, originally announced last year, will be given the new Nokia 7710 handset which allows them to watch channels including Sky News, Sky Sports News, Discovery, CNN, Chart Show TV, Cartoon Network and a short film service.
Mike Short, vice-president of research and development at O2, said he was talking to other content providers, including terrestrial broadcasters, about filling the remaining eight available channel slots.
"We have been guided by extensive research we did last year about what people wanted to watch on mobile phones," he said. "They particularly wanted content of short duration, between 10 and 20 minutes, which lends itself to news, sport and cartoons.
"With the Oxford trial, we don't think people are going to want to watch two-hour feature films. But we think they will watch for anywhere between 10 and 45 minutes."
Similar tests of mobile TV have been carried out in Germany by Vodafone and T-Mobile, with other trials planned by Sonera in Finland, KPN in Holland and Telstra in Australia. While the technology works it is unclear whether the spectrum needed to operate the service will be made available in the UK.
http://money.guardian.co.uk/businessnews/story/0,1265,-1481890,00.html
Mobile phone users are to get access to television channels including Sky News, CNN, Cartoon Network and Discovery as part of a long-awaited British trial of handsets fitted with digital TV receivers.
Television mast operator NTL Broadcast has teamed up with O2 to launch the trial, offering 16 TV channels to mobile users in Oxford.
Those taking part in the test, originally announced last year, will be given the new Nokia 7710 handset which allows them to watch channels including Sky News, Sky Sports News, Discovery, CNN, Chart Show TV, Cartoon Network and a short film service.
Mike Short, vice-president of research and development at O2, said he was talking to other content providers, including terrestrial broadcasters, about filling the remaining eight available channel slots.
"We have been guided by extensive research we did last year about what people wanted to watch on mobile phones," he said. "They particularly wanted content of short duration, between 10 and 20 minutes, which lends itself to news, sport and cartoons.
"With the Oxford trial, we don't think people are going to want to watch two-hour feature films. But we think they will watch for anywhere between 10 and 45 minutes."
Similar tests of mobile TV have been carried out in Germany by Vodafone and T-Mobile, with other trials planned by Sonera in Finland, KPN in Holland and Telstra in Australia. While the technology works it is unclear whether the spectrum needed to operate the service will be made available in the UK.
http://money.guardian.co.uk/businessnews/story/0,1265,-1481890,00.html