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How do you pass the time in airports and taxicabs? How aboutwatching TV-on your cell phone?
Sprint's PCS Vision data network has become the first tocarry the live TV news and special interest broadcasts of MobiTV(www.mobitv.com), a global TV network from Berkeley,California-based Idetic. For a surprisingly low $10 per monthbilled against a $15 monthly Sprint premium fee, you can catch newsand market reports on ABC, MSNBC, CNBC or CNET; or divertingdocumentaries on The Learning Channel and Discovery Channel. Thereare also sports and music stations-even kiddie stations likeToonWorld, which attract a surprisingly mature demographic,according to Idetic CEO Phillip Alvelda.
You'll need one of a dozen color phones supporting Java orBREW applications, like Sanyo's 8100 or Samsung's VGA1000.Audio and video streams won't synchronize any better than thosevideo phones used at war fronts, but they are live streams-asopposed to prerecorded file downloads-and affect battery lifevery little.
MobiTV broadcasts will improve significantly as networkbandwidth and phone processors do, promises Alvelda. He'sintent on bringing this and other video applications to all theworld's 1.2 billion cell phones.
