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Video service MobiTV is now tuning into Microsoft's Windows Mobile 5.0 platform; fast-gaining in popularity with enterprises and consumers, as operators release a steady stream of high-profile devices like the Motorola Q. The broadcaster also delivers radio programming and is already supported by over 100 different devices, including - for a while now - Palm platform products like the Treo 700p, Treo 650 and Treo 600.

You can sign up for the MobiTV, which streams video-on-demand as well as live TV, through the company's Website or at Handango for $10 a month—the software can be downloaded directly to your smartphone—plus the cost of a data plan from your mobile operator.

Carrier's in the U.S. who deliver the service include Alltel, Cingular Wireless and Sprint Nextel, as well as to Verizon International in Puerto Rico. MobiTV can also be accessed on laptops via the AT&T Wi-Fi network. Canadian users can get it through Bell Canada, Rogers and TELUS Mobility.

The MobiTV channel lineup, which can vary a little from operator to operator, includes MSNBC, ABC News Now, CNN, Fox News, Fox Sports, ESPN 3GTV, NBC Mobile, CNBC, The Discovery Channel, TLC and The Weather Channel, along with cartoons, music videos, comedy and more.

The company says the software provides a graphical channel guide with programming information, a full-screen viewing option, as well as touch screen (good for Pocket PCs) and 5-way navigation support.

Although the are many Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone and Pocket PC platform handhelds and handsets on the market, for some reason MobiTV only lists a few - the Palm Treo 700w, Sprint PPC 6700, Cingular 2125, Cingular 8125, and Motorola Q - as supporting the application and service.

MobiTV works by sending digitally encoded video frames over the operators data overlay network in IP packets. The smartphone or cell phone at the other end reassembles the packets in the correct order, decodes them and displays their contents on its LCD screen.

To Handset TV Or Not
Carriers have spent a lot of money rolling out faster networks in an attempt to increase revenue, as data and content services have been shown to up ARPU (average revenue per user) over voice alone, which has increasingly become a commodity.

MobiTV is really the first generation of what mobile TV technology will become. Networks based on true broadcast standards (DVB-H, Qualcomm's MediFlo, T-DMB) that bypass carrier networks altogether when delivering television signals to handsets are being tested right now, and handsets built on them - by Nokia, Samsung and others - already exist.

In fact, Modeo showed off a HTC-built Windows Mobile handset with DVB-H mobile TV support at CTIA in April. And the company successfully pilot tested its DVB-H mobile broadcast network in Pittsburgh (where it is headquartered) and plans to officially launch service in select major U.S. markets, including New York City, later this year.

Technologies like DVB-H free up bandwidth for other mobile operator content and promise better quality video for the consumer. They are much more efficient, as the provider doesn't need to make a one-to-one connection with every user on their cellular network, which has a finite amount of bandwidth to begin with.

There’s may be more than technical hurdles for mobile TV to overcome.

A survey by Jupiter Research last fall found almost twice as many people are interested in watching live TV as are interested in viewing downloaded or streamed clips with their handsets. According to a March 2006 RBC Capital Markets survey, however, three-quarters of respondents weren't interested in watching TV programs or movies on their mobile device; let alone using a cell phone for music even.

Some of the reasons: Too many product choices prevented 45 percent of consumers from making a purchase decision, while rapidly changing technology deterred more than half (56 percent) from buying into new handheld technologies. The survey also suggested the benefits of converging mobile technologies are not yet well understood enough to drive a purchase decision.