Qualcomm is now the defacto winner of the mobile TV race in the US, thanks to its ability to partner-up with right wireless carriers - AT&T and Verizon - for its MediaFLO multimedia wireless network. Those deals sealed the fate of Crown Castle’s mobile TV effort, Modeo, that used the rival DVB-H technology.
The wireless tower owner has thrown in the towel, and instead of building its own network (via Modeo), it is going to rent the spectrum to a joint venture between Telcom Ventures and Columbia Capital for about $13 million.
Modeo, didn’t get past the trial stage, and as we had previously reported that it wasn’t getting any traction. MediaFLO launched in certain cities in March of this yearwill launch later this year (updated). And just to be clear, these are special networks being built for multimedia content delivery, which is different from service offered by Emeryville, Calif.-based MobiTV, which offers videos over wifi and cellular data networks.
9 comments so far
4:12 AM PT
Great -Another standard where, completely due to Qualcomm, America uses a standard different to the rst of the world, a propritary limited one, which will cost more!
Yours kindly,
Shakir Razak
5:47 AM PT
Where is Aloha Networks and their 700Mhz Spectrum in this Mobile TV service?? Also,
What impact will both MediaFlo and ALoha Networks operating Broadcast TV channels (saturating the spectrum with one way services)over the Lower Band of the 700Mhz have on the plans to deploy 2 Way Communication Networks over this new 22Mhz being proposed by the FCC for Auction??
Seems to me the Premium Bands of the 700Mhz for 2 way communications would be in the Upper Bands, where the big carriers will focus their bidding.
Jacomo
7:02 AM PT
Om,
MediaFLO launched in Q1
Chetan
9:21 AM PT
Very disappointing. DVB-H is a much better long term mobile TV solution than MediaFLO based on every comparison I’ve read (other than Qualcomm’s claims).
I agree with Shakir.
9:45 AM PT
Chetan,
I am not sure if it can be used by regular subscribers anywhere right now. They might have a handful of trials but not many services available for now. I bet that is going to change soon.
1:35 PM PT
Chetan, Thanks, you’re right, we updated the post.
6:20 PM PT
What will happen with HiWire? They were going to use DVB-H just like Modeo, but at 700 MHz instead of 1400 MHz. It would seem like there only hope would be T-Mobile USA, as GSM + DVB-H is a natural combo, but will 700 MHz DVB-H be deployed in enough of the rest of the world to get good handset prices? I’m thinking this was a big problem with Modeo — popular worldwide broadcast standard, but unique to the US operating frequency. Meanwhile, does this mobile TV thing really have any legs? Little handheld TVs have been around for years (with bigger screens than mst cell phones) and they sell about as well as shortwave radios.
11:10 PM PT
The European Commission has endorsed the adoption of DVB-H as the single European standard. Nokia and other manufacturers have also endorsed it. Will this end up like the CDMA (US) versus GSM (rest of the world) battle? We know how that ended.
3:35 PM PT
[...] the U.S., Qualcomm’s MediaFlo standard has pulled ahead of a rival DVB-H standard pushed by Modeo, but the service has so far only launched on a few Verizon handsets. Without a ton of handsets able [...]
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