Qualcomm and Abertis Telecom have announced that they will collaborate to bring a live MediaFLO (that’s broadcast Mobile TV to you and me) demo to Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2009. The broadcast will actually stretch through Barcelona, where MWC is now hosted annually.
Abertis Telecom is collaborating with Qualcomm to promote mobile broadcast services at this year’s Mobile World Congress. Demonstrating a citywide MediaFLO network provides an opportunity for show attendees and potential mobile TV ecosystem partners to witness the many advantages of mobile broadcast services first-hand. Abertis Telecom, as a telecommunication infrastructure operator, believes that telecom networks and infrastructure providers should be ready to support different technologies and business models that best meet consumer needs within an open and transparent regulatory structure.
The MediaFLO demonstration will feature more than 30 channels of content, including a large collection of Spanish programming from Abertis, and international channels from France24, ProSieben and others. IP datacasting, Clipcasting(TM) media and interactive services for voting, chatting and m-commerce, as well as updating social networking sites while watching mobile TV shows, will round out the applications on display. Devices will include commercial and pre-commercial handsets, mobile TV receivers and Wi-Fi(R) accessories for MediaFLO that allow Wi-Fi enabled smartphones to receive live television broadcasts using the MediaFLO platform. The Wi-Fi accessories are concept devices intended to show a possible means for bringing broadcast mobile TV services to the large installed base of smartphone users.
The citywide MediaFLO network is supported by three transmitter sites placed throughout the city of Barcelona. The 8 MHz network will run on European Channel 56 (754 center frequency). MediaFLO technology demonstrations can be seen at Mobile World Congress in Qualcomm’s booth (Booth B53, Hall eight) and Abertis’ booth (Courtyard 11, CY11, Spanish Pavilion).
The MediaFLO broadcast mobile TV platform is designed for the delivery of high-quality entertainment and information, including streaming video and audio, Clipcasting media, IP datacasting and interactive services. MediaFLO technology is an open, globally recognized technology standardized by the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and recommended by ITU-R for the broadcasting of multimedia and data applications. Invented for mobility, MediaFLO technology provides increased capacity and coverage, as well as reduced costs for multimedia content delivery to mobile devices. More information about MediaFLO technology is available at www.mediaflo.com.
Well if I was going to MWC this year, this is definitely something I’d want to check out – those of you going, see if you can spot people watching super-clear Mobile TV on (probably) screen-rotated clamshell mobiles!
[Via: prnewswire.com]