AT&T Announces Mobile TV Service

They're a little late to the game.

How long has it taken them to get this going??? Well over a year.

Who knows if this will even get started as planned. I wouldn't be shocked if they delay it again.

 

well ATT already had MobiTV just not live TV.

honestly im not crazy about the idea, i could watch at home on a much bigger screen and pay nothing more than my normal bill. ::shruggs::

 

Eric, I have to agree with you. There's nothing on regular TV anyway. Why would I want to watch the same crap on Mobile TV? There's a reason the reception towards Mobile TV has been luke-warm. Verizon's VCast TV hasn't done as good as they hoped. Then again, why would most people want to pay $15 to watch 10 or so channels? Not me and apparently a lot of other Verizon customers too.

 

Mobile TV isn't, and shouldn't try to be, a replacement for normal television. Rather it is best used in a role of 'boredom busting'. That is, it should be targeted for use in the down time people have e.g. the commute to work. It can also be useful for showing interesting moments from sporting events or for watching the news.

 

Still based off of Qualcomm's Media-FLO platform, operating in the 700MHz band, which is quite lacking in outdoor coverage, and abysmal indoor coverage.

I have seen locally that Media-Flo is trying to install more transmitter sites, but the process has been slowed by the NIMBY crowd that see anything, including additional antennas on an existing tower as being a harbinger of their own cancerous death.

I'll have to grab a few photos of a live Media-Flo site to post here, typically 2 dishes and a single omni-directional antenna, but as so far, they are trying to get a single Media-Flo site to be able to cover a 15+ mile radius, which does not work well at all, especially on the outer fringes of coverage.

Take Verizon's V-Cast compatible phones, trying to get good reception of a Media-Flo transmitter that is 15 miles away with a simple 3 inch extendable antenna on the phone.

I tried Verizon's V-Cast, and was so disappointed with the reception, that I canceled the service after only 1 week.

I hope AT&T doesn't follow Verizon off of the cliff along with the other Lemmings.... :loony:

 

I hope no one in their right mind thinks mobile TV is a replacement for normal TV. I certainly never thought so.

 

A bit of a cultural difference here I think; I was thinking of commuting as it is in Europe where many use public transport to get to work. Mobile telly is ideal for such a situation. I agree with you though, I wouldn't want to be driving beside someone watching TV on their mobile either!

 

Why would anyone watch mobile TV on your phone while driving! ....the in-dash DVD players have much bigger screens

 

I'm not familiar with all state laws, but in MD it's illegal for a video to be playing in view of the driver while he is operating the vehicle.. ie: visor monitors, in dash DVD, etc... rear TV's are ok but nothing can be in view of the driver. I do agree that Mobile TV is more of a boredom buster, but I'm fine with just a newspaper or my MP3 player.

 

I've stopped taking a newspaper, except for the free one on the bus, so I rely on my mobile for all my information when I'm out. I find it handy to eb able to check the news, either via a mobile site like the BBC's or using RSS and if I think a story is interesting I can see if there is a news clip about it I can watch.

 

Being a car guy, you'd think I'd be on board for all the monitors in the car, but it's too much flash for me personally. Its hard enough driving with all the bad drivers on the road these days, why complicate it more?