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.

Last week during Sony’s press conference at the Leipzig Games Convention, Sony’s President and Chief Executive Officer of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, David Reeves, dropped some giant TV shaped bombs on a largely unsuspecting crowd.

PlayTV - PS3 with Digital TV in Europe

The first was PlayTV for the PS3. Essentially via a slightly ugly but easy to tuck away box that you use to link your PS3 to your signal receiver/cable etc, the PS3 will be able to display live TV from any of the hundreds of free digital channels available throughout Europe.

Not only that, but the service will come complete with its own interface which although slightly grey and austere, looks very intuitive and not altogether different from that of Sky+.

PlayTV also includes seven day scheduling so that you can check what is coming over the next while as well as support for HDTV as and when HD signals begin broadcasting on the continent.

Buzzwire Inc. today announced a beta preview of its streaming mobile media service, which lets users create their own customised program line-up and access it on their mobile phones anytime, anywhere.

Buzzwire.com includes audio and video feeds to cater for almost anybody bringing personalized content to suit every individual taste. Should they choose, users can organize, save and share their selections within minutes.

British Telecom has announced that it is to trash its white label mobile television service after sole partner, Virgin Mobile, said it would cease to carry the service.

BT Movio launched less than a year ago in September 2006, but despite positive feedback from customers, BT admitted uptake had been lower than expected due to a lack of compatible phones on the market.

Just one handset, HTC’s so-called ‘Lobster Phone’, was available to Virgin subscribers wanting in on the venture.

According to a recent report by ABI Research, IPTV over wireless broadband is an attractive offering for consumers and carriers - but there are many challenges to overcome to ensure it can be delivered effectively.

Whilst IPTV can currently be delivered to homes over wired connections, its bandwidth hungry nature means carriers are constantly scrambling to upgrade infrastructure. Adding to this cost, they have to connect homes (generally via coax cable) to the main cable running down the street.

This is where wireless is clearly advantageous: It’s more cost effective in reaching more consumers and there are no cabling issues to speak of. However, according to the research paper, conventional wireless technology simply wouldn’t cut it when it comes to high quality streaming media.

Sling Media has announced that the SlingPlayer Mobile software client will now be compatible with Microsoft’s new Windows Mobile 6 operating system to connect your Slingbox with your fancy new cell phone.

The SlingBox is a device that can rebroadcast anything on your TV, DVR etc., across your own private internet channel.

This basically means you can take your living room TV on the move whenever you have access to a PC, Mac, or Windows Mobile-based device where you can get a standard internet connection (3G Cellular, WiFi, USB, ethernet).

Microsoft Windows Mobile 6 Compatibility

The SlingPlayer software is the “remote control” program that you use on your PC, Mac or cell phone to connect to your home television. The SlingPlayer Mobile software client is now compatible with Microsoft’s new Windows Mobile 6 operating system

In addition the new software release brings:

• New remote control skin with refreshed look and feel.
• Remote control functions for additional A/V devices incorporated.
• Inclusion of a localized UK client utilizing Queen’s English and appropriate channel logos.
• Automatic installer support broadened to include Windows Vista.

Useful Links

• Download SlingPlayer Software
• Buy a SlingBox from Amazon
• SlingBox Deals on eBay:

  No eBay items currently available.

Press Release

Sling Media Releases SlingPlayer Mobile Software Compatible with Microsoft Windows Mobile 6

New version of SlingPlayer Mobile supports all versions of Windows Mobile 6 allowing customers to watch and control their home TV via a Windows Mobile handheld computer or mobile phone

Foster City, CA — June 21, 2007 — Sling Media, a digital lifestyle products company, today announced that its award-winning SlingPlayer™ Mobile software client is now compatible with Microsoft’s new Windows Mobile 6 operating system. SlingPlayer Mobile gives Slingbox owners the ability to watch and control their home TV from a network-enabled Windows Mobile powered device. With today’s announcement SlingPlayer Mobile is now compatible with devices that run Windows Mobile 6 Standard and Professional editions, Windows Mobile 5.0 and Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition. SlingPlayer Mobile is available for download from Sling Media’s U.S., Canadian, and UK web sites, which can all be accessed from www.slingmedia.com.

“Windows Mobile 6 is powering a whole slew of new, feature-rich multimedia smartphones, and Sling Media is happy to announce SlingPlayer Mobile support for this next generation mobile platform,” We look forward to continuing our support for Windows Mobile-based products, providing customers with the best possible mobile TV experience available.”

SlingPlayer Mobile is available for U.S. customers from Sling Media’s web siteat http://us.slingmedia.com/page/downloads.html. The retail price of the application is $29.99. SlingPlayer Mobile is available for Canadian customers at http://ca.slingmedia.com/page/downloads.html. The retail price is $34.99 CAD. SlingPlayer Mobile is available for UK customers at http://uk.slingmedia.com/page/downloads.html and can be purchased for £19.99 GBP, including VAT. A localized Japanese version will be available in the weeks to come from Sling Media’s web site. All versions of SlingPlayer Mobile include a 30 day free trial.

Customers who have already purchased SlingPlayer Mobile and are upgrading to Windows Mobile 6 need to request a new registration key from Sling Media after upgrading from Windows Mobile 5 to Windows Mobile 6. They can do so by contacting Sling Media customer care at http://support.slingmedia.com or by calling (877) 467-5464.

“Windows Mobile helps people stay connected to the information they care about whether they are traveling or staying close to home,” said John O’Rourke, general manager at Microsoft Corp. “New features in Windows Mobile 6 like support for wide screen viewing will offer SlingPlayer Mobile customers an enhanced mobile TV experience for viewing their favorite TV programs.”

Complete TV Experience
SlingPlayer Mobile gives consumers their entire home TV experience, including local channels, local sports teams, video on demand, pay per view, etc. Any program that you can watch on your sofa back home, you can now watch via a PC, Mac, or Windows Mobile-based device anywhere you can get a standard network connection (3G Cellular, WiFi, USB). In addition, SlingPlayer Mobile users can also control their home digital video recorder (DVR) to watch recorded shows, pause, rewind, and fast forward live TV, or even queue new recordings while on the road.

About Sling Media
Sling Media, Inc. is the world’s leading digital lifestyle company offering consumer services and products that are a natural extension of today’s digital way of life. Sling Media’s product family includes the internationally acclaimed, Emmy award-winning Slingbox™ that allows consumers to watch and control their living room television shows at any time, from any location, using PCs, Macs, PDAs, and smartphones. For more information on Sling Media or the Slingbox, visit www.slingmedia.com.

Media contact:
Brian Jaquet
Sling Media, Inc.
[email protected]
(650) 293-8022 office
(415) 235-4844 mobile

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

While news was coming out of Streaming Media East in New York, on the other side of the world the IPTV World Forum Eastern Europe tradeshow in Prague was also bustling with the people and products of IPTV.

At the event Celrun, an IPTV Set Top Box manufacturer, along with Metalink Ltd, a leading provider of high performance wireless and wireline broadband communication silicon solutions, launched a wireless HD IPTV Set Top Box.

Celrun’s new set-top box is designed to deliver HD IPTV over Wireless LAN. The wireless delivery of HD video streams is enabled by Metalink’s 802.11n WLANPlus.

Metalink has already worked with Samsung on a HD IPTV Set TOP Box that it announced in March.