MediaFLO continues to wait for AT&T Mobility debut

AT&T Mobility subscribers are still waiting for the carrier to launch MediaFLO USA Inc.’s broadcast television service, and sources say the wait could be anywhere from two to eight weeks longer.
The launch seemed all but locked up for earlier this month, but everything from “legal issues” to the broadcast TV chipset that will be embedded in the initial devices have pushed the launch date back yet again, according to sources close to the situation.
Multiple parties were preparing to launch the initial device and service offering in the second week of January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but were told to hold off at the last minute. LG Electronics Co. Ltd.’s Vu, or CU920, which is slated to be the first device to launch with MediaFLO on AT&T, was on display at CES, but the handset manufacturer was put in the awkward position of not being able to disclose any details about its future.
Six weeks later, the brakes have been applied once again.
When AT&T first announced the deal with MediaFLO last year it said the service would launch by the end of 2007. As the year came to a close, the carrier pushed back its launch date to sometime this quarter, which would give it until the end of March to meet its second self-imposed deadline.
It’s largely assumed that the carrier would be hard pressed not to launch the service before or at CTIA Wireless 2008, which gets underway April 1.
Internal documents that were leaked online last month indicated that AT&T is also planning to launch the service with two exclusive channels. No word yet on what programming those channels might carry. The service, which has been available to Verizon Wireless subscribers since March 2007, currently offers eight live, linear TV channels around the clock. However, it’s long been assumed that the Qualcomm Inc. subsidiary would work with carriers to help differentiate their offerings and provide opportunities for the ever-coveted exclusive content.
Both AT&T and MediaFLO declined to comment for this story.