Crave U.K. doesn’t like the progress and quality of 
mobile television in Europe, but has nice things to say about Qualcomm’s FLO TV when the writer visited the United States.
“Is TV on our mobile phones destined to suck?
“We were leaning towards yes, after failed attempts by BT and Virgin which went down quicker than a brick Titanic, and the EU-favoured DVB-H system, which is going nowhere fast. TV on the Web has exploded, but we tried BBC iPlayer on the Nokia N96, and it was a jerky reminder that TV over 3G doesn't really work yet — and the networks are none too happy to be providing the pipe that gets clogged up with our daily fix of the boob tube.
“But on our recent trip over the pond, Qualcomm showed us how it can be done...if you've got a few years and the budget of a small oil-rich kingdom.”
FLO TV shows the way
Crave says that with an investment of about $800 million, transmitters across the U.S., an advanced control center and a satellite, FLO TV is showing “the rest of the world how it’s done.” The article notes that Qualcomm wants to offer mobile TV to the U.K. and other countries in Europe, and owns a significant amount of spectrum in the U.K.
I wouldn’t think many European would be pleased with Crave’s reaction, even though, arguably, FLO is technologically superior to DVB-H.
As I’ve written previously, FLO TV has an uphill battle trying to provide mobile TV in Europe, where Qualcomm isn’t especially liked, to put it kindly. European countries aren’t thrilled with further lining the pockets of the company that for many years has been exacting licensing fees for its cellular patents.
Also, the European Commission has blessed the DVB-H standard, although not every EU nation wants to march in lock-step.
Comments