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Vodafone adds new channels to mobile TV
March 13, 2005
Highlights from the deciding match of the club you support, from the latest episode of your favourite soap or the vote counting after the election:mobile phone TV is now one of Vodafone's most popular information and entertainment services.
Eight additional channels will be included in the Mobile TV programme, which Vodafone Germany customers can use without any additional costs until the end of the year. What's more, two of the new channels, Deutsches Wetter Fernsehen and Eurosport, won't be broadcasting content that has been specifically produced for mobile phones, but the original TV programmes. In order to retain an overview of 'what's on when' on Vodafone Mobile TV, viewers simply visit the clearly structured Vodafone live! portal. It's just like a TV guide.
UMTS customers will find that many of the shows they watch on their TV sets at home are now included in the mobile programme. The N24, MTV, RTLmobile Video, Comedy and Football channels that are already available on Vodafone Mobile TV are now being joined by eight more. Cooperations with content providers such as the ProSiebenSat.1 Group and Eurosport enable Vodafone to provide a range of programmes that is more diverse than the majority of those available from other mobile communications providers. Another feature that UMTS customers will only get from Vodafone is unlimited "channel surfing". Up to now, the UMTS tariff included two free hours of viewing until 15 April 2005. Now, the free viewing offer has been extended. All the channels on Vodafone Mobile TV can be viewed 24 hours a day and absolutely free of charge until 31 December of this year.
From now on, Vodafone customers with a UMTS phone can watch original Eurosport programmes, including highlight events. The Vodafone entertainment programme includes famous channels and shows. One of the big name shows comes from the RTL stable: the cult series, "Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten", will soon be available on its own mobile TV channel "GZSZmobile" so that fans can catch up on the latest episode at the bus stop, in the café or on the beach. What's more, they don't have to wait until evening now because the latest episodes are broadcast on mobile TV before the conventional TV broadcast. "Sat.1" is broadcasting the new, successful telenovel, "Verliebt in Berlin", live in its mobile programme on every weekday. The "ProSieben" channel offers top mobile entertainment in the Vodafone network, including selected movies, talk shows, current affairs programmes and comedy shows.
In addition to the above shows, Vodafone is offering its Mobile TV customers a variety of new special interest and information channels. Cinema and movie fans can watch the top 5 cinema blockbusters and all the week's movie premieres, plus interviews and background information on "CinemaTV". Bitfilm GmbH's "Short Film" channel is also making its debut and will be presenting a new short film on every weekday. Last but not least, the weather channel "Deutsches Wetter Fernsehen" and "CeBIT TVmobile" will provide viewers with an overview of the weather throughout Germany and the latest news with live images from the world's largest ITC trade fair in Hanover.
To watch UMTS TV on their mobile phone, Vodafone customers dial into the "Mobile TV" section on the Vodafone live! portal and select the channel they want to watch. A UMTS capable phone, a Vodafone customer contract with a UMTS tariff and UMTS network coverage are necessary to use Vodafone Mobile TV. Vodafone already offers UMTS network coverage in more than 700 German towns and cities.
Vodafone also intends to present mobile television with the new DVB-H standard at CeBIT 2005. During a live demonstration, visitors to Vodafone's exhibition stand will experience the various possibilities offered by a new technology.
Having successfully completed initial test runs in Berlin, at CeBIT 2005, Vodafone will now demonstrate to the general public, for the first time, mobile TV applications based on the DVB-H standard. DVB-H stands for "Digital Video Broadcast Handheld" and is a transmission method modified for mobile terminal devices, i.e. mobile phones and PDAs, which is based on the terrestrial digital television standard DVB-T. With DVB-H, up to 30 TV programmes can be transmitted live. A prototype mobile phone from Siemens will be used for the live demo at CeBIT, on which ongoing TV programmes can be watched.
It is not yet known when and how DVB-H will be launched. Vodafone is currently testing possibilities for designing a corresponding service and the business model required for this.
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