Virgin Mobile will be the first mobile operator to sign up to the BT Movio broadcast digital TV and radio service for mobile phones. In doing so, Virgin Mobile will become the first mobile operator in Europe to offer its customers digital TV and radio content on a mobile device using broadcast technology.
The deal was announced at the 3GSM show in Barcelona, where BT also unveiled the Trilogy handset, the worlds first DAB-IP enabled Smartphone, that will be used to access the service. The phone features a 2.2″ screen, removable storage, and a 1.3 megapixel camera.
The BT Movio service will be broadcast via the UKs existing digital audio broadcasting (DAB) network. It will use Microsofts Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system, incorporating Windows Media Video and Windows Media Audio Pro, to deliver high-quality audio and video content over a DAB network using minimal bandwidth, and Windows Media Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology to ensure secure delivery of premium video and music content.
Virgin Mobile will offer the broadcast service on what it describes as a limited exclusive basis to its customers later this year, giving customers access to a wide range of digital TV content and more than 350 DAB digital radio stations nationwide, broadcasting twenty-four hours a day.
Virgin Mobile spokesman Stephen day told Mobile Marketing that the phrase limited exclusive referred to the fact that for a period of time, the service would only be available on Virgin Mobile, before being rolled out on other networks in due course.
We dont want to reveal how long a window we have said Day. It suits us to be first because we can make a lot of noise about it, but at the same time, we would like Mobile TV to catch on and that will depend on other networks taking it up. Day also said the service would launch in the summer, but that it was too soon to reveal details of the price customers will have to pay for it.
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