In a first for the American market, Verizon Wireless is offering genuine, streaming television to mobile phone customers. In fifteen markets west of the Mississippi, Verizon Wireless customers can today sign up for V Cast Mobile TV service in one of three flavors, offering up to eight channels including NBC and NBC News, Fox, MTV, Comedy Central, CBS, Nickelodeon, and ESPN. These are mobile versions of the network channels, so we don't expect identical lineups between their larger TV counterparts.
The service is available in a limited package, which gives you four channels for $13 per month, a basic package that offers all eight channels for $15, and a select package that offers all eight channels, plus unlimited access to the mobile Web and Verizon's V Cast Video service, for $25.
Though the only phone available for the service is the Samsung SCH-U620 (read our full preview here), we expect to see other phones, like the swiveling LG VX9400, which we previewed at CES 2007, available in the near future. Currently, the markets with access to the V Cast Mobile TV service include Chicago, Dallas, Denver, New Orleans, Las Vegas, Portland, Salt Lake City, and Seattle, as well as many smaller cities.
Verizon's V Cast Mobile TV is based on MediaFLO's streaming television service. European and Asian cell phone users have been enjoying mobile television for some time, mostly on DVB-H networks, a standard that competes with MediaFLO. Currently, Modeo has begun beta trials of a DVB-H network in New York City, using handsets from Taiwanese manufacturer HTC, though no U.S. carrier has officially signed on to offer DVB-H service. AT&T has already announced their intention to use MediaFLO's service for their eventual mobile TV network, though Sprint, which had been running trials of MediaFLO under the Sprint VUE brand name, recently announced their decision to explore other options.
Though we can't yet speak to actual network performance, one potential advantage of DVB-H over MediaFLO is its worldwide acceptance. Many phones are available worldwide with DVB-H support, though only two phones have been announced that support MediaFLO, the Samsung U620 and the LG VX9400. Because the U.S. infoSync World headquarters are located in New York City, we can't promise a full review of the service until it makes its way to the Big Apple, but check back for further information as it becomes available.
Related phones: MediaFLO phones
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