Soon, TV shows will come 'live' on your mobile phones

Bored sitting in traffic? Well soon you might be able to stream your favourite Saas-Bahu serial, movie, cricket match or news on your mobile phone 'live'.

'Mundu.TV' by Indian software company Geodesic will bring many TV channels straight to your mobile phone using the GPRS technology. The company has signed up with two TV channels and is in talks with other content providers for news, music and sports. Mundu.TV is expected to be launched by the year end.

"With Mundu.TV, you can watch TV channels on your mobile 24 hours; it would include features like pause and record similar to 'Direct TV' ", said Kunal Lagwankar, Product Manager, Geodesic.

To watch TV live on the mobile phone, a user would simply have to download the Mundu.TV application onto a GPRS-enabled phone, purchase a licence and activate the software.

Mundu.TV, according to Kiran Kulkarni, Managing Director, Geodesic, will be the first mobile application to offer live streaming TV seamlessly using existing low bandwidth (30 kbps) GPRS technology. The application is designed to work on existing GPRS-enabled phones. Using proprietary compression technology, the company claims it can provide a smooth mobile TV experience without any lags or screen-jerks.

However, some mobile telephony operators are sceptical about the quality that TV streaming through GPRS can provide. Existing mobile TV applications either require high bandwidth (3G or WiFi networks), or take place through progressive downloads which can mean poor user experience, according to a technology analyst. In the past, telecom companies have offered mobile TV but failed to gain significant customer traction, he added.

Mundu.TV will be available to users on a monthly subscription basis. The user subscription charges will be shared by Geodesic and the content providers, while telecom companies would indirectly benefit from higher data-related revenues.

"We have spoken to a few telcos and they are excited since it would mean higher bandwidth usage and revenues," said Kulkarni. Telecom companies such as Vodafone, Airtel , Aircel and Idea already offer a slew of limited and unlimited data packages to postpaid and prepaid consumers.
Taken from Business Line