Virgin Mobile Launches Mobile TV Service

LONDON, September 7: Virgin Mobile has unveiled the first
broadcast mobile-TV service for the U.K., delivering BBC One, ITV1, Channel 4’s
made-for-mobile channel, Channel 4 Short Cuts, and
E4, beginning October 1.

The service, which is provided
by BT’s wholesale mobile broadcast entertainment service, BT Movio, will also
broadcast DAB digital radio, offer ‘red-button’ interactivity and feature a
seven-day electronic program guide (EPG).

Virgin Mobile TV can be viewed
on the Virgin Mobile Lobster 700 Mobile TV phone, which will be available from
October 1 through Virgin Mobile Stores and from virginmobile.com/mobile. Virgin
Mobile offers the mobile TV phone and service for free for customers on a
contract of £25 a month or more, for the life of their contract.

Alan Gow, the managing director
of Virgin Mobile, noted, “The launch of Virgin Mobile’s ‘Tellyphone’ is a real
watershed, both in terms of mobile devices and the evolution of broadcasting.
Virgin Mobile finally delivers what others have been promising for so
long—real TV broadcast to your mobile, delivering the programs you want
to watch, when you want to watch them, in a simple and easy-to-use experience.
We are hugely proud of the Virgin Mobile TV service and I think it could
revolutionize how, when and where people choose to watch TV.”