14 DAY TRIAL // While in Asia, mobile TV has become pretty much usual, in the UK it doesn't seem to be as interesting for customers. Virgin Mobile has sold less than 10, 000 handsets for its mobile TV service although it has released a major advertising campaign and cut the price of their TV-enabled handset manufactured by HTC, the Lobster.
UK's first mobile TV service, provided by Virgin Mobile, was released in October last year, and since then the Lobster phone, a handset that can receive the service, has not recorded a large number of sales. Virgin Mobile TV uses the digital radio spectrum to broadcast TV comparing to the services offered by mobile operators such as Vodafone or Orange that simply transmit video to handsets.
Virgine Mobile was the first operator to broadcast a pared-down version of traditional TV that any compatible handset can receive. On Virgin Mobile, customers can watch BBC1, ITV1, Channel 4, E4 and ITN news. Those who will sign a contract of ?25 or more will get both the phone and TV service for free, while pre-pay customers will get free TV for the first 90 days after which they will need to pay a ?5 monthly fee to keep using the service.
Although mentioning that they have sold significantly fewer than 10,000 TV-enabled handsets, the operator's chief executive, Alan Gow did not give an exact number. "Handsets are a fashion device and become unfashionable fairly rapidly and this one is approaching the end of its cycle," he said.
Virgin Mobile also hopes to offer several new TV-enabled mobile phones during this year and new services that will allow customers to record or download their favorite TV programs on their device.