An interesting piece ran in The Register about the prospects of Modeo, the subsidiary of Crown Castle that is building a DVB-H network to wholesale to operators. The company is expected to launch in October, but hasn't wooed an operator and is expected to go it alone. Modeo has already indicated that it is targeting devices beyond mobile phones so that may be the route it has to take. Cingular Wireless was a hopeful candidate, but its soon-to-be parent AT&T and MobiTV launched a live TV subscription service for broadband. Cingular already uses MobiTV. Ask Cingular Wireless folks about DVB-H, and they inevitably roll their eyes. They aren't ready to make that foray now, since they are just cutting their teeth on this stuff. Still, Modeo's video quality was quite impressive from what I witnessed at the show.
To read more about Modeo's possible go-it-alone strategy:
- take a look at this report from Faultline that ran in The Register