Vodafone Live! 3G TV Popular With Customers

Vodafone live!’s new mobile TV services are proving popular with 3G customers, with initial usage figures demonstrating strong demand for the technology which launched at the beginning of the month in conjunction with BSkyB.

The first two weeks of the launch saw customers access one million streams of mobile TV channels, on the Vodafone UK network (see Sky Signs Vodafone For Mobile TV Service).

Sky Mobile TV offers Vodafone customers 10 television channels including 24-hour news, sport, entertainment and documentary, with the service available for free to all Vodafone live! 3G customers until 31 January 2006 and exclusive to the network until 31 March 2006.

Commenting on the figures, Stephen Nuttall, BSkyB’s director of business development said: “These figures demonstrate a real consumer appetite for mobile TV. As 3G take-up grows, we believe that many more people will enjoy access to news and entertainment on the move. This is a strong start for an innovative new service.”

Al Russell, head of content and advanced messaging at Vodafone UK added: “The initial success of the mobile TV service has clearly demonstrated that Vodafone customers want more from their phones than just to make calls. We expect uptake of the service to continue to increase and are already experiencing significant interest in channels such as the England tour of Pakistan.”

The move by Sky to provide live mobile feeds builds on the broadcaster’s Sky Mobile service, an application allowing mobile users on any network to access the latest sports, news and weather information from its various channels and websites. The service also allowed video updates, although these were in the form of clips rather than true video streams (see Sky Targets Mobiles In Content Push).

BskyB: 0207 705 3000 www.sky.com