Hot on the heels of the news that NBC are offering free full episodes of two of their biggest shows to iPhone and iPod Touch users, comes the news that live TV is now also a possibility.

Orb Networks claims to have “the world’s first way to stream live TV to the iPhone and iPod Touch.” The application is called Orb Live, and it will work on all jailbroken Apple iPhones and iPod Touches.

Users can get access to the app by installing it on a home PC, and OrbLive on their iPhone or iPod Touch. You then just set the PC to stream live TV and you can then stream the content to your device via Wi-Fi.

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NBC hates Apple, or at least iTunes. However, that doesn’t mean it hates iPhones, iPod Touches, or people who own these devices. If you need proof, then read on.

Despite having a major bust-up last year over NBC shows on iTunes, which resulted in NBC removing all of their content from Apple’s service, Alley Insider reports that they are now offering full episodes of two of their most popular shows on the iPhone.

DRM, Price & Advert Free

What’s more, they are available for free, without adverts, and in unprotected Quicktime format. Is this the same NBC that has tried to control pricing and DRM issues?

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Yesterday, we touched on the issue which seems to be dominating the blogosphere right about now, that of the plans Microsoft seem to be developing for having a copyright cop on the Zune player.

Microsoft, by way of Cesar Menendez, an employee who works on the Zune has since tried to rectify the issue, and on Zune Insider claims that Microsoft do not have any plans to add content filtering to the Zune.

However, Alex Curtis of Public Knowledge has delved deeper in to the issues, and in the following article looks at the legal implications of any such move were it to happen.

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Mobile TV is one of the fastest growing sectors in the new range of television services emerging, with Asia, Europe and the US all showing signs of a desire to watch TV on the move using mobile devices.

Yesterday, The New York Times published a piece about the phenomenon, how the services, and take up amongst consumers, vary around the world, and how the fight is still on to be the single standard of choice for mobile video.

Asia Leading The Way

At the moment, Japan is the world’s leader in direct mobile television, with over 20 million mobile phones thought to be equipped with television receivers, and capable of receiving signals.

South Korea is not too far behind, with 8.2 million mobile phones in use with the ability. Worldwide, the number of people who view mobile TV is estimated to be about 29.7 million, although this is expected to double by the end of 2008.

Asia may be leading the way, but Europe and America are gradually catching up.

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The Archos 605 Wi-Fi Portable Media Player is part of a new generation of media players which utilise the Web for content. For the first time, you can now stream content from the Internet to your TV using a media player.

Using the Archos 605’s Wi-Fi feature, you can download media content from the net using the Archos content portal. This offers movies, TV shows, and music for download to your portable media player.

This enables you to be no longer tied to a PC or Mac, and instead be able to download content easily to a device which has a full-colour 4.3-inch touch screen capable of showing an 800 x 480 picture resolution.

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Games console manufacturers are slowly but surely realising the potential for Web video, and are gradually turning their consoles in to viable distribution methods for it.

We’ve already seen the Wii getting the BBC iPlayer, with the PS3 expected to follow soon. We’ve also seen rumours that Sony are soon to launch an online video service for the Playstation 3 to rival Apple TV.

Now, Sony and Sky Television have announced they are teaming up to bring the first official PlayStation Portable video download service to Europe.

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Nokia has recently announced that they are teaming up with Spike Lee to create a series of shorts for the User Generated Content community.

This is certainly a positive step for the handset maker who seem to  be seeking to extend into more diverse markets.

Certainly, UGC is huge and the goal of converting millions of eyeballs into dollars has been the Holy Grail for YouTube and a slew of smaller companies.

That Nokia is using their platforms; I gather the N95 along with a name director is certainly a good marketing strategy. Certainly, this is not the first company to seek to work from the top down.

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