Mobile Operator "3" Launches Digital Cell Phone TV Channel
May 1, 2006 9:51 AM | Cell Phone TV | Three - 3 | Comments (0)
| Now Italian soccer fans with mobile phones, thanks to 3G mobile operator "3", can watch the up coming 2006 FIFA World Soccer Cup games on their cell phones. 3 has just launched a digital TV channel for their cellular phone users. The "walk TV" is a new television service that is already broadcasting "free-to-air" channels from RAI (the state-owned station), Mediaset, and Sky Italy to 500 "pilot customers." Even though 3 states the network is ready and expects to reach more than 65 percent of the Italian population, this won't happen overnight. The new cellular phones with DVB-H capability (the technology behind digital-mobile-TV service) will not be on the market until mid-May 2006. The U900 smart phone (see specs. below), manufactured by LG Electronics, will be the first product to be offered, with Samsung's P910 to follow shortly thereafter. The mobile operator has also announced "La3," an in-house manufactured mobile television network that will create original content and formats, covering sports, entertainment, cinema and many other topics. |
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Doubts are still out about the success of mobile TV, even in Italy. But with this move, 3, which focuses on UMTS business and owns a 3G network, has forced its competitors to follow suit.
On the same day, in fact, both Telecom Italia and Vodafone Italia announced a deal with Samsung for offering the SGH-P920 DVB-H mobile phone and plans for broadcasting mobile-TV channels.
Telecom Italia announced that in June it will start to broadcast "Serie A" and Champions League soccer games, in addition to different free-to-air channels. Telecom Italia is the formerly state-owned, incumbent telecom operator for both fixed and mobile lines, and also owns the television network La7.
Vodafone Italia last week signed a deal with Mediaset, the privately-held television network owned by former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's family, but will not commercialize the P920 until the end of summer.
DVB-H stands for "Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld," and is the mobile and compact version of the technologies for digital television.
LG U900 Smart Phone Specifications
| General | Network | UMTS / GSM 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900 |
| Announced | 2006, April | |
| Status | Coming Soon | |
| Size | Dimensions | 100.6 x 50.6 x 21.4 mm |
| Weight | 110 g | |
| Display | Type | TFT, 256K colors |
| Size | 240 x 320 pixels, 33 x 45 mm | |
| Ringtones | Type | Polyphonic (72 channels), MP3 |
| Customization | Download | |
| Vibration | Yes | |
| Memory | Phonebook | 500 entries, Photocall |
| Call records | 10 dialed, 10 received, 10 missed calls | |
| Card slot | microSD (TransFlash) | |
| - 58 MB shared memory | ||
| Data | GPRS | Yes |
| HSCSD | No | |
| EDGE | No | |
| 3G | Yes, 384 kbps | |
| WLAN | No | |
| Bluetooth | Yes, v1.1 | |
| Infrared port | No | |
| USB | Yes, v1.1 | |
| Features | Messaging | SMS, MMS, Email |
| Browser | WAP 2.0/xHTML | |
| Games | Yes + Java downloadable | |
| Colors | Silver, Black | |
| Camera | 1.3 MP, 1280 x 960 pixels, video; secondary VGA video call camera | |
- Java MIDP 2.0 | ||
| Battery | Standard battery, Li-Ion 950 mAh | |
| Stand-by | Up to 250 h | |
| Talk time | Up to 3 h |
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