ROK TV has launched a free global Mobile TV service. Following the successful launch of the worlds first mass-market 2.5G multi-channel mobile TV service over GPRS, ROK has now launched the worlds first free mainstream mobile TV service, FreeBe TV.
Currently offering four channels of content, with more slated in the near future, to include live news, music and sport, FreeBe TV is available via a dedicated link on: www.rok.tv, and is compatible with 14 major handsets. FreeBe TV channels are streamed over GPRS to WAP-enabled handsets. For a list of compatible handsets, click here.
The ROK content is free from subscription charges of any kind. ROK is advising consumers to double check with their network operators, however, over any GPRS data-charges that might be incurred. ROK points out that FreeBe TV is principally aimed at consumers with GPRS data packages included in their mobile tariff.
The FreeBe TV service includes an extreme sports channel, a vintage comedy channel, a classic cartoon channel and a classic movies channel. ROK says it is also looking to create a mobile user-generated channel called YOU-MADE-IT . ROK is encouraging viewers of its TV services to send their own content into the channel, with a selection of the received content – which it anticipates will range from short movies, comedy clips, music videos and home-made animations and cartoons – to be included on the channel , which will stream on the new service.
“This is mass-market 2.5G rather than niche 3G and its free, which dramatically increases access to Mobile TV and massively reduces barriers to adoption says ROK Marketing Director, Bruce Renny. Only through aggressive and innovative services such as FreeBe TV can we ensure that Mobile TV services achieve the critical mass required for mass adoption and long-term durability. Taking a mass-market product to a mass-market audience via a mass-market (2.5G) mobile technology is the only way for the industry to grow.
The launch of FreeBe TV follows ROKs launch earlier this month of ROK Viper, its free mobile-to-mobile Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service. 
