Archive notice: This article was originally published on October 16, 2006. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Mobile communications service provider Mobilcom is also entering mobile television: for this, the company is cooperating with Mobiles Fernsehen Deutschland (MFD) and is offering its “watcha” mobile TV service from today.
For 8.95 euros per month, Mobilcom customers can use the mobile television service without restriction. Mobilcom offers it as a bookable additional option when concluding a contract, but also in addition to ongoing contracts. The LG V9000 mobile-phone model is available from 49 euros including a contract; the Samsung SGH-P900 is intended to follow “shortly.”
After receiving a nationwide broadcasting license in the DMB standard (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting), mobile TV provider MFD is expanding the transmission network for its “watcha” mobile TV service throughout Germany. Mobilcom initially offers mobile television in twelve major cities (Berlin, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Hamburg, Hanover, Cologne, Leipzig, Munich, Nuremberg, Saarbrücken and Stuttgart).
Viewers can currently choose among the four TV channels ZDF, N24, MTV Music and “EntertainmentTV powered by Sat.1 and ProSieben” on “watcha.” In addition, bigFM2see, Europe’s first visual radio station, is being fed in. According to its own information, MFD is currently negotiating with further broadcasters about feeding in their channels.
“The partnership with Mobilcom shows that mobile TV has achieved its breakthrough in Germany. Watching television on a mobile phone will soon become just as natural as using a built-in still camera,” predicts MFD Managing Director Dr. Jens Stender.
