You're reading it here first.
Well, exactly as I broke the news RIGHT HERE last week about DStv and e.tv announcing a brand-new DVB-H mobile television service - one that will be free for a while, MultiChoice and e.tv did exactly everything I told you is coming.
Exactly as I was first to spill, MultiChoice's DStv and e.tv has partnered up offering (just as I said) sport channels, the Cartoon Network, Africa Magic, Channel O and the eNews Channel to name a few that I've already revealed last week. The frequency spectrum allocated to mobile broadcasting currently enables 15 channels via DVB-H technology and more channels will be added by e.tv and DStv Mobile to their offerings over time. (The only bit that i DIDN'T know was this little bit, that's actually interesting by itself.)
It will be free immediately until March 2011 as I've said, and will then cost R36 per month on DVB-H enabled cellphones from 1 April 2011. Network coverage is available in the major centres of Johannesburg, Pretoria, Soweto, CapeTown, Port Elizabeth, Polokwane, Mbombela, Rustenburg, Bloemfontein and Durban.
''The technology and business models are still evolving globally and it will take many years to see any returns on this investment,'' says Imtiaz Patel, CEO of MultiChoice SA. The company has spent a lot of money and made huge investments over the past few years in mobile television while the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) dragged its feet in drafting regulations and issueing mobile TV licences.
''The Digital Video Broadcast Handheld (DVB-H) technology rolled out by MultiChoice for broadcast Mobile TV in South Africa offers excellent digital sound and picture quality whilst making efficient use of the allocated spectrum,'' says Mark Rayner, the general manager of DStv Mobile in a press statement.
''This is only the start of e.tv's mobile broadcast services,'' says Bronwyn Keene-Young, e.tv's group chief operating officer in a separate, simultaneously released press statement. ''The launch of e.Mobile TV in South Africa makes our channels accessible to our viewers at times when they normally would not be able to watch TV.''
According to the broadcaster, e.tv as a TV channel will be made available on the mobile platform in due course. ''e.tv is committed to providing its services anywhere at anytime. Technology such as mobile broadcasting offers our industry new opportunities all the time and our viewers more choice,'' says Bronwyn Keene-Young.
ALSO READ: MultiChoice delights with a great new gadget for true mobile television in South Africa: say hello to the Drifta decoder.
ALSO READ: MultiChoice and e.tv set to launch first true (and free) mobile television for cellphones in South Africa.
