Verizon Wireless TV Live in 20 Markets

Qualcomm’s MediaFLO USA Powers V CAST Mobile TV

By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 3/1/2007 6:35:00 PM

Verizon Wireless has begun selling V CAST Mobile TV live television service in 20 U.S. markets -- although those include only two of the 10 largest -- and the carrier expects consumers to shell out as much as $25 per month to get it.

The live TV service, provided through Qualcomm’s MediaFLO USA subsidiary, currently carries eight live channels: CBS Mobile, ESPN, Fox Mobile, NBC 2Go, NBC News 2Go, Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon.

When Verizon Wireless outlined the V CAST Mobile TV service at an event prior to the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the company said it would be available in “most major markets” by the end of the first quarter.

For now, Chicago and Dallas are the only top 10 markets where the service is available. Other cities with coverage as of Thursday include Denver, Seattle, Minneapolis, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Kansas City and Portland, Ore., according to Verizon Wireless’ Web site.

Verizon Wireless executive director of corporate communications Jeffrey Nelson said the service has been launched “in select markets right now.” He added that the carrier is continuing to work with MediaFLO USA to build out coverage of spectrum, and “as that clears, we’ll add additional markets.”

Verizon Wireless is wagering that the mobile-TV lineup will be enticing enough to make customers pay as much as $300 per year on top of their regular wireless-calling charges.

V CAST Mobile TV is available in three tiers: a limited package, $13 per month, with Fox, NBC and CBS channels; a basic package, $15 per month, for all eight channels; and a select $25 monthly plan that includes the live TV plus unlimited access to the library of V CAST video-on-demand clips.

On top of that, the service also will require subscribers to purchase Samsung’s SCH-u620 phone for $200 (with a two-year contract).

Analysts have wondered whether mobile TV is sexy enough to get big numbers of subscribers willing to pay for the privilege. A $15-per-month wireless-video plan is “a hefty monthly price premium, even if you get the V CAST phone as a holiday present,” said Mary Ann O’Loughlin, an analyst with telecommunications-research firm Ovum.

Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone, has spent more than one year developing V CAST Mobile TV with MediaFLO USA. The Qualcomm unit scored its second big customer last month when AT&T said it would use the MediaFLO USA network for its own live TV service to launch later in 2007.

In the MediaFLO network, live TV signals are delivered over a 6-megahertz slice of spectrum in the 700-MHz band. That’s enough bandwidth for up to 20 live channels, although the company has said that it expects to provide its partners a mix of live TV channels and “datacasting” applications, such as a real-time stock ticker.