Verizon's V Cast Mobile TV
We've gotten used to being entertained pretty much 24/7. But we may not always remember to load up our handheld of choice or our laptops with all the things we want to watch or listen to on the go.
Connected devices like the Microsoft Zune help with that, but most of us already carry a connected device: our cell phones. And those cell phones just got more entertaining, thanks to Verizon's forthcoming V Cast Mobile TV.
Set to debut in the first quarter of this year, the new service will offer a broad selection of familiar TV content on your cell, available to you at the change of a channel, literally.
You can be watching Stephen Colbert and the Colbert Report one moment, then flip the channel to an NBC news cast the next or catch the latest videos on MTV (in the two hours MTV still shows videos, that is). Channel flip time was faster on the phone during my demo of the product than I frequently have at home with my satellite service and picture quality was sharp and vivid on the new LG VX9400. Samsung is also releasing a compatible model, the SCH-u620.
How It Works
Just like your home cable service, V Cast Mobile TV users will get a grid with forthcoming show times and program details, and will be able to watch the content as it's released. So you'd see the latest Jon Stewart barbs as they're broadcast to your living room bound friends, or keep up with the football game as you move from home to the car to the train. You'll have to suffer through the same ads, too, though.
Verizon has content deals in place with most of the major networks save ABC (though that is likely coming), as well as familiar cable fare from MTV, Nickelodeon, USA, Fox, Comedy Central, and more.
The service uses MediaFLO technology developed by QualComm's MediaFLO subsidiary. The technology rides on top of standard cell networks and enables multicasting: one signal reaching many users instead of the standard cell network's unicasting, where one signal travels between one user and one transmitter.
A competing technology, called DVB-H that performs much the same function, has gained some traction overseas, but has yet to make a U.S. debut with a major cellular carrier.
MediaFLO USA representatives also report that the technology is in trials with T-Mobile, Sprint, and Alltel Wireless.
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