Sports Networks Get Cosy With Cellphones

(From Sports Television Production Magazine)

MOBITV has added a new channel created specifically for delivering ESPN's video content to mobile phones. Fans with the MOBITV service can now view regularly updated ESPN content -- selected and edited specifically for the mobile viewer -- including sports news, fantasy sports updates, college sports, XGAMES highlights, and ESPN ORIGINAL CONTENT anytime, anywhere on their mobile phones.

MOBITV is available on SPRINT PCS, CINGULAR and other regional wireless networks.

Meanwhile, SMARTVIDEO TECHNOLOGIES announced that original extreme sports programming from EPIC SPORTS CHANNEL will be available as part of its basic mobile television package starting August 1st. Now, anyone with a smartphone or PDA equipped with a media player will have access to series such as EPIC KIDS, EPIC ADVENTURES, EXTREME BEHIND THE EXTREME, INNOVATORS, and and other exciting action sports programming such as TRIX AND TIPS, a series that shows viewers how these extreme sports are done.

SMARTVIDEO offers technology that enables fluid motion, fully synched live video and audio broadcasts, even on phones running on current 2.5G cellular networks, making it the only such service able to be called television in the true sense. Thanks to the successful launch of the more robust 3G networks in the U.S., SMARTVIDEO can provide 3G-capable phones with a minimum of 24 frames per second and virtual broadcast-quality of at least 28 FPS on WI-FI-ENABLED DEVICES. Already close to 70 million phones in the U.S. are equipped with media players that support the SMARTVIDEO SYSTEM, which is compatible with all major wireless carriers in the world.

EPIC SPORTS CHANNEL joins such content providers as ABC NEWS, ABC NEWS NOW, NBC UNIVERSAL (CNBC, MSNBC and NBC MOBILE), THE WEATHER CHANNEL, FOX SPORTS NETWORK, IFILM, FASHION TV, E! ENTERTAINMENT, THE DIGITAL MUSIC VIDEO NETWORK and DIC, as well as others.