BT Movio pushes 3G TV to the sideline

January 12, 2006

British Telecom (BT) said it is to launch a mobile phone TV service called BT Movio that will use the existing digital radio system to broadcast the signals to mobile phones by the end of the year.

A thousand Virgin Mobile phone users piloted the service over the past four months inside the M25 area. Two-thirds of the pilot users said they would be prepared to upgrade their service to receive TV channels and pay £8 a month, and a third said they were prepared to switch networks to receive the channels.

Users of the service will be able to watch programs from channels such as Sky and ITV on their mobile phone, as well as able to listen up to 50 radio stations, but will have to buy a new phone to receive the TV signals.

Presently, mobile phone TV service can only be watched on 3G phones. With the introduction of BT's new service, customers will not have to buy expensive 3G phones to watch TV. Price of the new phones is expected to cost 25% less than 3G phones.