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Cellphone NewsMobiTV, MSpot Offer Mobile Radio ServiceNov. 14, 2005 MobiTV, Inc. and Cingular Wireless have teamed up to offer Cingular subscribers first access to streaming music via MobiTV's MobiRadio service, the companies announced Monday. The MobiRadio application, available on select Cingular handsets, currently offers approximately 40 channels of streaming digital music, according to a recent news release. "MobiTV announced availability for its MobiRadio service in September," a company representative told Ziff Davis Internet. "With Cingular, we're now unveiling the first implementation of our service for consumers to try." The MobiRadio service offers 44 channels of commercial-free music, which customers can access through their mobile handset. They can listen to the Mobi-musical medleys on a number of genre-based stations using headphones or a speaker. Music Choice, a Horsham, Penn.-based e-music network, programs and delivers all MobiRadio content. Music Choice channels are broken down by genre, and include classical, country, electronica, jazz, reggae, rock and urban. In addition, Music Choice updates its audio database regularly to ensure customers have access to both established and emerging artists, according to a MobiTV representative. The MobiRadio application is available on select Cingular cell models, including the Nokia 6620, Sony Ericsson S710 and Z500a (although additional handsets will be added soon). Currently, the streaming mobile music application offers subscribers information about each song and artist during playback. It also displays album art, according to the news release. MobiTV and Cingular say they have plans to extend MobiRadio service offers in the near future. The companies intend to integrate on-demand ring tone (and other associated content) purchase capabilities, to give consumers instant access to the music they are listening to. "We successfully kicked off our partnership with Cingular earlier this year with the launch of the MobiTV service," said Phillip Alvelda, CEO and Chairman of MobiTV, in a statement. "Scaling our solution with Cingular to offer their subscribers the first opportunity in the industry to experience the MobiRadio service is revolutionary. Together, we are 'raising the bar' for wireless customers." The MobiRadio service is now available to select users for $6.99 per month, plus kilobyte usage. Sprint Nextel Corp., the No. 3 U.S. wireless service, began selling a similar service in mid-September using channels from Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. It also charges about $7 a month plus airtime unless customers also pay a $10 or more monthly fee for unlimited data use. MSpot, Inc., another player in the mobile multimedia market, has recently updated its audio offerings for Sprint customers, in a bid to build momentum in the growing mobile radio industry. MSpot combines different types of entertainment from a variety of media outlets to create portable-friendly programming, and then optimizes the content for delivery over existing wireless networks, according to the Web site. MSpot currently offers streaming content to mobile phones via its MSpot Radio and MSpot Music services. They have also announced three new programming format options, according to a recent news release. These options include Live (live radio and video), On-Demand (updated clips and stories that users can download and save) and Pre-Recorded (long-format shows, which loop continuously). They have also added stereo audio and improved streaming with AAC+ encoding technology. MSpot Radio, a subscription service, makes available live and on-demand music, as well as news, sports, finance, weather and talk channels. MSpot Music is an interactive audio service for Java-enabled handsets, with 25 channels of streaming music, said a company representative. MSpot expects the mobile music segment to grow and evolve through 2006. In response to concurring analyst predictions, the company says it will continue to add on-demand options to its roster, with services custom-tailored to consumer desire. Multimedia applications slated for the future include major motion picture services, premium video and mobile-exclusive original programming. MSpot anticipates offering upwards of 50 music and talk channels by the end of this year. "We're seeing great interest from domestic and international carriers as they realize mobile multimedia content has tremendous revenue potential," said Daren Tsui, CEO and co-founder of MSpot, in a statement. "What sets us apart … is our ability to understand mobile network and handset limitations and still deliver a sophisticated interactive user interface and we'll continue to partner with entertainment leaders to offer the widest range of premium entertainment programming for mobile phone users," said Tsui. |
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