Everything Everywhere tries again with mobile TV
September 7, 2011
By Colin Mann
Everything Everywhere, the UK mobile joint venture between Orange and T-Mobile, has revealed the first in a series of significant changes planned for its mobile TV service over the next 12 months. The changes are designed to improve the mobile TV experience it provides its customers and it predicts a six-fold increase in subscribers over the next three years as a result.
Working with Red Bee Media, Everything Everywhere is implementing a new mobile TV delivery platform to serve live streaming video content to its existing customers. The new platform will be powered by Red Bee Media’s next generation media grade solution, RedPlayer, and will stream live content from over 40 channels such as ITV1, ITV2, Eurosport, ITN News, Sky News, Sky Sports 1, CNN and National Geographic.
The new platform will allow tablet users to access and view the service for the very first time and will deliver video content optimised by handset to ensure a high quality viewing experience at all times. The service will also seamlessly integrate with wi-fi, allowing consumers the choice of connecting via 3G and wi-fi to view content. Alongside content distribution the deal also leverages key components of Red Bee Media’s RedPlayer platform including ingestion, preparation, storage and transcoding of Everything Everywhere’s programming content for all devices.
Orange was the first UK brand to introduce mobile TV in 2005, and since that time has offered its customers a variety of content packages from over 40 channels to meet the growing appetite for mobile TV ‘snacking’ on the go. T-Mobile meanwhile has been offering a service since 2007.
Paul Jevons, Director of Products, Everything Everywhere, described the new delivery platform as “just the start”, promising several significant developments planned for the service over the next 12 months which would really transform the way consumers view mobile TV. “We’ll also be looking at new technologies as they become available, including the ability to stream 3D content to handsets with 3D capable screens – so our customers will only continue to receive the best services we are able to offer them,” he added.