LONDON: British mobile company Vodafone and pay channel BSkyB are in an alliance to offer television content on mobile telephone handsets. Starting tomorrow, Vodafone's 250,000 3G subscribers in Britain will have free access to Sky Mobile TV until January 31.
At the end of the trial, BSkyB will offer two packages, both priced at five pounds a month. One package has mainly news and factual programming as content, while the other will include entertainment shows, including movies and cartoons. A total of 19 channels will be offered.
BSkyB also said it was giving all "Vodafone live! with 3G" customers the chance to watch Sky Sports' live coverage of the England cricket team's winter tour to Pakistan.
TV on mobile services have already been introduced on a trial basis by mobile operators O2 and Orange in the U.K. and France. However, analysts see the Vodafone-Sky package as the most advanced offering.
In line with this development, Hollywood studios and television producers are understood to be in the process of developing what is euphemistically called "mobisodes", specifically for small handset screens.
BSkyB, majority-owned by News Corporation, has been attempting hard to get into the mobile segment. It had recently bought ISP Easynet for 211 million pounds with an intention to get into the "triple-play" market, combining TV, internet and telephone services.
A BSkyB spokesperson said it plans to offer the service on other mobile networks from April next year.
Posted
on : Tue, 01 Nov 2005 13:10 GMT | Business News
By : Mark Richardson
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