Crown Castle plans to lease the 1670-1675 MHz spectrum it planned to use for subsidiary Modeo's mobile TV service to a Telcom Ventures and Columbia Capital for $13 million a year through October of 2013.
This effectively means the DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld)-run service Crown Castle's been developing since purchasing rights to the spectrum in 2003, to put it in television terms, has been cancelled.
With Crown Castle throwing in the towel, the battle to deliver broadcast-based television services on the mobile handset has, in effect, been won by Qualcomm.
So far, Verizion Wireless, is the only wireless carrier in the U.S. to launch such a service. It is based on Qualcomm's MediaFlo technology, a competitor to the DVB-H's standard. AT&T has signed up with Qualcomm to offer a similar service with MediaFlo as well.
Standards like DVB-H and MediaFlo allow content providers to broadcast television signals separately from traditional cellular-data networks, freeing up precious bandwidth for other mobile operator content while promising better quality video to the consumer than current handset TV technologies like Modeo's own MobiTV brand, which piggyback video over regular cellular-wireless bands.
Back in February, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved Modeo's request to increase transmission power. This could have meant cheaper and better performing streaming audio and video in both urban and rural areas for Modeo customers. That point is moot now, however.
Modeo had been beta trials in New York City since January. A select group of wireless carriers, reporters, industry analysts, financial analysts, and content providers received a HTC-built Pocket PC Phone called the Modeo TV Smartphone (code-named Foreseer by the original design manufacturer) to watch 6 channels of live video—from CNBC, MSNBC, Fox News, Fox Sports, Discovery Channel and E!—and listen to 8 channels of audio content over Modeo's broadcast network. The FCC okayed the Modeo TV Smartphone for release in the U.S. almost a year ago.
