SINGAPORE – As Europe creeps ever closer to adopting an EU standard mobile TV format, Singapore has boldly taken the plunge into live mobile television. Southeast Asian telecoms titan SingTel has announced that people using it’s 3G service will be able to sign-up for the new service that officially powers-up this Saturday 24 May.
Dubbed mio TV on Mobile, and built on Nokia’s mobile TV streaming solution, live broadcasts and video-on-demand will be exclusively available on a diverse range of Nokia devices from the start, including the N95, 6110 Navigator and E51.
Clearly confident the service will be soaked up by locals, SingTel’s Vide President of Consumer Marketing, Wong Soon Nam, said:
“With Singapore’s high mobile penetration rate and SingTel’s customer base of over 2.5 million mobile users, the largest in Singapore, it makes sense to offer compelling content on our mobile platform so that Singaporeans have access to their favourite mio TV content wherever they may be.”
More good news is that there won’t be a shortage of channels or content to devour from day one, with serious staple stations such as Channel 8 Prime Time, Channel NewsAsia and ETTV Asia News delivering the breaking stories to a flood of entertainment-focussed viewing via the likes of Mei Ah Movies Channel (Asia).
One of the hurdles with services such as mobile television is that many don’t believe the experience is comparable to our conditioned comfort of watching live TV at home. SingTel is looking to address this with an ultra simple seven-day electronic programming guide, and perhaps even more important, effortless channel switching.
What are your thoughts on mobile TV in your region. Is it available where you live? If it isn’t, is it a service you’d use if it was, and what would you demand from a mobile TV experience?
Elsewhere…
SingTel launches Mio TV on mobile – Telecom Paper
Singapore Telecom launches mobile TV on phone – China View