Crown Castle Mobile Media has changed its name to Modeo and announced plans to deliver live mobile TV to the top 30 markets across the United States this year and next. At the CES convention in Las Vegas last week, the company demonstrated the Modeo service with device manufacturers Motorola and Nokia.
Last year Modeo tested its DVB-H mobile broadcast network throughout the Pittsburgh area using a series of terrestrial transmitters from Axcera and Harris. The company plans to launch the service commercially during 2006 in select major U.S. markets, including New York City. Modeo is currently working on a nationwide deployment of its network to the top 30 U.S. markets, with launches targeted throughout 2007.
Modeo will target a broad range of mobile devices including cell phones, laptops, portable media players, and personal digital assistants with an easy-to-use service that delivers live news, sports, music and entertainment programming.
Modeo also wants to be the first mobile broadcast network to support podcasting. Subscribers will be able to download dozens of video podcasts and hundreds of audio podcasts each week directly to their mobile device. Video services are designed to be broadcast in digital TV quality at QVGA resolution at up to 30fps.
Mobile entertainment industry analysts, including Frost & Sullivan and IDC, project the mobile video market will exceed $1.5 billion by 2009.
Modeo is a subsidiary of Crown Castle International. For more information, visit www.modeo.com and www.crowncastle.com.
