BT is axing its Movio service, sounding the death knell for Virgin Mobiles Mobile TV service, which relied on BT Movio for the bandwidth. BT has cancelled its contract with GCap Media, which owns the frequency on which the service operated. BT issued a statement which reads:
BT can confirm that following a review of its wholesale solutions, the decision has been made not to continue with the Movio service. BT is discussing the timescale for the closure of the service with Virgin Mobile.
BT press officer Ross Cook told Mobile Marketing  the company had decided to terminate the service because of a variety of factors.
While customer feedback has been good, sales have been slower than originally expected due to a lack of compatible devices from big brands and network operators said Cook. Additionally, Europe is looking to install DVB-H as the standard. Asked if BT had plans to develop a DVB-H-based Mobile TV offering, Cook said it was unlikely.
I dont think so he said. We went with this service to see if there would be a big take-up, but sales have been disappointing so we wont continue.
Virgin Mobile Head of Media Relations Jo Baker told Mobile Marketing that the service will come to an end at the end of January or early February next year, and that in the meantime, the Lobster 700 handset on which the service is available would be withdrawn.
We are working closely together (with BT and GCap) to keep customers closely informed, but this does not mean we are pulling out of Mobile TV altogether said Baker. We will look to explore other channels. This was a joint partnership and BT have not been able to secure other networks and so if they cant continue with the service, we have to live with that. But we are proud to have led the way with the first broadcast Mobile TV service over DAB in the UK.