Orange launches mobile TV service

Orange today launched Britain's first TV service for mobiles, charging £10 for around 20 hours viewing a month for nine channels delivered over its 3G network.

Initial channels include ITN News, CNN, Cartoon Network, Extreme Sports, Big Brother, Celebrity Love Island, Comedy Time, Cartoon Network, Toon World, and Fashion TV.

They will be available initially only on the Nokia 6680 but support for further handsets will follow. Users have to download the TV application from the Orange World site.

Alexis Dormandy, Chief Marketing Officer for Orange, said: "This signals the start of a huge new opportunity for our customers, broadcasters, handset manufacturers and production companies... We're talking to broadcasters about new, exciting content and we're looking forward to adding more great Orange TV channels in the near future."

People signing up for the Orange 3G package on the Nokia 6680 will get be able to access the service free for three months using their 1GB-per month data allowance.

If they then sign up for a £10-per-month subscription they are entitled to receive 1GB of TV data, equivalent to about 20 hours.

This pricing model will not survive for long if digital broadcaster have their way. Britain is already trialling the use of Dab and DVB-H technologies for broadcasting multimedia to mobiles.