clipped from: www.privateline.com The FCC has voted to allow Qualcomm to continue its multi-million dollar project to create a cell phone tv service. Tight restrictions handed down from the FCC have been viewed as a successful, yet compromising, win for MediaFLO USA, the managing company for the project which is a subsidiary of Qualcomm.
Three years ago MediaFLO began acquiring UHF Channel 55 throughout the country. Today it holds all licenses to the spectrum, and intends to roll out its service in early 2007. Verizon Wireless is currently the only wireless provider that has contracted to use the cell phone tv service, expected to cost $12 per month for its subscribers.
Allowing the utilization of Channel 55 for MediaFLO's cell phone tv service has been described as a measure to "further wireless broadband deployment." Many broadcasters are in the process of switching their analog transmission signals to digital. This change makes part of the former broadcasting spectrum available for redevelopment, namely wireless device services.
MediaFLO's competitor, Crown Castle International, is expected to offer TV content delivery over cell phones using a different technology. Requests made by MediaFLO to limit interference by Crown Castle have yet to be reviewed by the FCC.