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NBCU Answers Call of Mobile TV

Mar 14, 2007  •  Post A Comment

NBC Universal struck its first deal for full-length programming on an on-demand basis to cell phones today, signing on with mobile TV service MobiTV.

Under the agreement, NBCU will offer NBC series “Heroes,” “Friday Night Lights” and “The Office” as well as “Monk” from USA and “Battlestar Galactica” from Sci Fi. MobiTV also will carry additional short-form programming from Bravo, Sci Fi, USA, Telemundo and mun2.

MobiTV counts more than 2 million cell phone customers worldwide.

The full slate of NBCU content will debut on MobiTV in the second quarter. MobiTV will price select NBCU prime-time shows at $1.99 per episode for a 24-hour viewing period and will offer other shows on an ad-supported basis.

The NBC deal with MobiTV marks the first effort by a major network to offer prime-time programming on-demand on cell phones, J.B. Perrette, president of NBC Universal digital distribution, said in a statement.

NBC distributes some of its prime-time shows on video-on-demand services with many cable operators and online via iTunes and NBC.com.

At the end of last year, about 6.2 million people in the United States subscribed to video service on their mobile phones, according to mobile research firm Telephia.



(Editor: Horowitz)