AT&T goes with the MediaFlo

(Credit: AT&T)

When Verizon announced at CES 2007 its partnership with Qualcomm's MediaFlo to bring V Cast Mobile TV to customers, we were so impressed that we awarded it the Best of CES award in the Cell phones category. Well it seems that Cingular/AT&T has jumped on the MediaFlo bandwagon as well: The nationwide GSM carrier has announced that it will use the MediaFlo technology to deliver live TV and video to its customers.

Just to jog your memory, the MediaFlo technology will allow cell phone carriers to broadcast television signals directly and independently to supported handsets via a dedicated network, without going through an EV-DO or EDGE network. This allows for live, real-time programming as well as high-quality streaming video, all on your cell phone.

AT&T is expected to pair its MediaFlo partnership with its existing Cingular Video offerings later this year. It's interesting to note that while U.S. carriers appear to be embracing MediaFlo, European and Asian carriers seem to be gravitating toward DVB-H, a competing mobile TV standard.