Submitted by Mike Grenville on Tue, 06 Jan 2004 18:08

Channel 4’s Shattered TV programme is being streamed live over GPRS to users of video-capable mobile phones

Channel 4’s Interactive division, 4Interactive, and Endemol UK, the media production company, have signed a deal with wireless streaming technology company Vemotion to offer viewers end-to-end live programming of new round-the-clock show Shattered from a range of video-capable GPRS (2.5G) mobile handsets. This is the first time that TV-to-mobile service has been offered in the UK from a terrestrial channel.

The service is enabling many mobile users to watch Shattered, a week-long Endemol UK show on Channel 4 where 12 participants stay awake to win a potential prize fund of £100,000, through Vemotion’s mobile TV service by accessing the programme from GPRS-enabled phones. Viewers can activate the service either by sending a SMS text message (VEPLAYER or SHATTERED to 83188) or via Vemotion’s WAP menus of available content (see the website www.vemotion.com or WAP site vemotion.com/shattered).

The cost to users for the first TV to mobile service is a nominal £1 for 24 hour access charged through premium SMS plus GPRS data rates from the user's operator. The final Shattered show is on Saturday 10th January.

Vemotion’s unique technology is the first in the world to offer live mobile video services based on the latest international standard known as H.264. This new standard doubles performance compared with the previous MPEG-4 standard, and is supported by leading industry bodies such as MPEG and 3GPP. The resulting video and audio is now a rewarding customer experience.

Robert Marsh, commissioning and producer relations at 4Interactive said: “We are delighted to be the first terrestrial broadcaster to offer this cutting-edge service. Viewers can stay awake with the contestants of Shattered around the clock with live updates and footage using their mobile phones.”

Devices that can take advantage of the video services include the Nokia N-Gage, 7650, 6600 and 3650, SonyEricsson P900, O2 XDA and XDA2 and HP iPAQ.

The most popular video applications currently are live television (Bloomberg, live 24-hour news), music videos, cartoons, sports and news clips, video alerts and video greetings. With the typical length of clips being between 20 seconds and 4 minutes, users pay as little as 30 pence. Vemotion’s solution allows users to watch live events, access content on demand, or download clips for later viewing.

The deal between Endemol and Vemotion will see more Channel 4 programmes using the technology in the coming months.

Channel 4 Shattered

www.vemotion.com