AT&T details MediaFLO launch for May: Verizon Wireless fires back with exclusive channels

AT&T Mobility and MediaFLO USA Inc. announced they will launch their long-awaited mobile TV service in May, but the details of the offering still remain somewhat unclear.
Neither company pointed to a specific date for launch, nor what content would be featured on two channels that will be exclusive to AT&T’s service.
Indeed, AT&T doesn’t appear to be holding itself to a specific deadline of any sort. The carrier’s rollout has suffered months of delays, having been initially slated for launch late last year.
“The service and the device will be available at the same time,” AT&T Inc. spokesman Mark Siegel said.
The carrier plans to announce pricing and exclusive content at a later date, he said.
AT&T did however address the handset question: The service will launch on the Vu from LG Electronics Co. Ltd. and the Access from Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
Interestingly, MediaFLO USA’s top executive doesn’t seem to know exactly when AT&T will launch the service.
“That’s really up to AT&T,” President Gina Lombardi said. “And when you find out why don’t you let me know.”
Sources familiar with the matter say legal issues involving Qualcomm’s chipset are partly to blame for AT&T’s delays. The legal issue stems from the International Trade Commission’s ruling against the importation of Qualcomm chips; Verizon Wireless last year inked a licensing deal with Broadcom Corp. — which brought the action against Qualcomm to the ICT — in order to sidestep such legal issues.
However, Lombardi dismissed such rumors.
“They have certain requirements they want to meet,” she said of AT&T. “Each one of these carriers . have their own way they want a consumer to experience their services.”
“It takes about a year’s time” to integrate with carrier’s billing systems and new handsets, she added.
“This is pretty much on schedule,” Lombardi said. “This is the amount of time it takes us to get integrated with their systems.”
Watching intently
Bill Ho, senior analyst at Current Analysis, said AT&T may be hard-pressed to meet this latest self-imposed deadline.
“If they don’t, everybody’s going to be all over them,” Ho said. “A lot of people who are industry watchers are watching this.”
“People are wondering, they’re not really setting a deadline,” said Nic Covey, director of insights at Nielsen Mobile. “It’s been there. People are sort of waiting to see, but I think it’s good they’ve put a stake in the ground and said here it comes.”
AT&T’s service will include the same eight-channel lineup — CBS Mobile, Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile TV, Fox Mobile, MTV, NBC News 2Go, NBC 2Go and Nickelodeon — as MediaFLO’s offering on Verizon Wireless, which launched a year ago.
However, one of AT&T’s two additional, exclusive channels is expected to include concerts from big-name artists. Indeed, Qualcomm hinted at such an arrangement in its filing with the Federal Communications Commission prior to the 700 MHz auction.
Lombardi wouldn’t say what content will be featured on AT&T Mobile TV’s exclusive channels, but said a glimpse of the service at CTIA Wireless 2008 might be telling.
“We will have the handsets available and you can see the service,” she said of the show, which kicks off officially on Tuesday.
Verizon’s retort
Hours after AT&T’s MediaFLO announcement yesterday, Verizon Wireless issued its own MediaFLO news. The carrier said it too would be adding a pair of exclusive channels: ESPN Radio and MTV Tr3s, MTV’s bilingual channel.
The additional pair of channels beefs up the carriers broadcast offerings from ESPN and MTV. The ESPN Radio channel will include programs such as “SportsCenterAM,” “Mike and Mike in the Morning,” “GameNight,” “The Pulse” and “Pardon the Interruption.” MTV Tr3s will feature “Sucker Free Latino,” “Karlifornia,” “Quiero Mis Quinces,” “Pimpeando,” and “Rock Dinner.”
“I think the exclusive channels will be important,” Covey said, adding that he doubts many consumers are making purchase decisions based on specific pieces of content.
“Is it compelling enough to spend the bucks for it?” Ho asked about the exclusive content deals. “Who are the people who want the exclusive content?”
MediaFLO USA’s datacasting technology, which it’s been developing to push personalized data directly to handsets via MediaFLO’s network, won’t be making any appearances soon.
“At this time, we’re not launching that with AT&T,” Lombardi said. “We are perfecting that service and that capability.”
She said the Qualcomm Inc. subsidiary is focused on getting U.S. wireless subscribers in the know about the service first; it will later evolve to include more services such as datacasting.