Qualcomm will offer its FLO TV on a handheld television, putting this existing service on a dedicated device for the first time.
Qualcomm's FLO TV Personal Television
(Credit: Qualcomm)FLO TV, the Qualcomm-owned provider of a live mobile TV service, unveiled the FLO TV Personal Television on Tuesday, with availability slated for holiday season at retailers.
FLO, or "forward link only" technology, is designed for multicasting a large volume of rich multimedia content cost effectively to wireless subscribers. AT&T and Verizon already offer FLO TV on mobile phones in the U.S.
Qualcomm says the FLO TV Personal Television is "created with the single focus of delivering high-quality TV." The device receives live and time-shifted content with no buffering, downloading or waiting to view content, according to Qualcomm.
Content includes CNBC, Comedy Central, ESPN, ESPNews, Fox, Fox News, Fox Sports, MSNBC, MTV, NBC2Go, NBC, NBC News, NBC Sports, Nickelodeon, CBS, CBS College Sports, and CBS News. (Editors' note: CBS College Sports and CBS News are offerings of CBS, which is also the parent company of CNET News.)
Though handheld TV is still somewhat of an unknown quantity, viewership--like that of more traditional big-screen TV-- tends to spike during major national events, according to Qualcomm. Its service saw a surge in viewers, for example, during March Madness--the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship.
Qualcomm cited market research from TeleAnalytics that projects a broadcast mobile TV market of $2.8 billion and 50 million users in North American by 2013.
FLO TV Personal Television subscription service starts at $8.99 per month and the device will sell for $249.99. Specifications include a 3.5-inch diagonal screen and weight of of just over 5 ounces. Its battery supports more than 5 hours of active FLO TV viewing or 300 hours standby.
The television uses a capacitive touch-screen allowing channel surfing with a finger swipe. It also includes a built-in stand and stereo speakers.
(Credit:
Flo TV)
FLO TV, provider of the FLO TV live mobile TV service, announced last Friday that it plans to go national, with at least 39 additional markets by the end of the year. This was sparked by the DTV transition last Friday, which freed up the broadband spectrum needed for FLO TV's dedicated network. Fifteen new markets went live as soon as the DTV trigger was pulled, and those include Boston, Houston, Miami, and San Francisco (at last!). The 24 other markets aren't slated until later this year. Qualcomm also said that existing markets like Chicago and New York will enjoy extended coverage.
This is a fairly ambitious project, considering the only two wireless carriers with FLO TV services now are AT&T with AT&T Mobile TV and Verizon with V Cast TV, and there aren't a lot of handsets that support the MediaFLO technology. As a reminder, FLO TV does not use existing cellular networks to transmit signal--it uses Qualcomm's own dedicated network to broadcast live mobile television, offering simulcast and time-shifted programming from a number of networks like CBS, NBC, MTV and ESPN. (Note: CNET News is published by CBS Interactive, a unit of CBS.) While we remain doubtful about the long-term success of FLO TV, we have to say the technology is intriguing, especially since it doesn't rely on easily bogged-down cellular networks.
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