MediaFLO USA Expanding to 100 Markets in 2009

• Posted: Wednesday, December 10, 2008
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• Author: pradhana
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• Filed under: Miscellaneous

By Jason Ankeny

Qualcomm's mobile broadcast unit MediaFLO USA said it plans to expand its coverage from 63 metro areas serving 140 million subscribers to more than 100 markets serving 200 million by the close of 2009. MediaFLO USA will begin increasing its mobile TV footprint by more than 40 U.S. cities beginning Feb. 17, when federal law mandates all full-power television stations terminate their analog broadcasts--MediaFLO senior vice president of strategy Matt Milne tells Multichannel News services should be up and running in the Boston, Houston, San Francisco and Miami markets two to three months later, with coverage also expanding in existing markets including Los Angeles. In April, Qualcomm announced it acquired eight licenses in the FCC's 700 MHz spectrum auction, effectively doubling MediaFLO's footprint--Qualcomm ponied up $558.1 million for the E-block licenses.

MediaFLO USA's FLO TV service, available via AT&T and Verizon Wireless, presently offers full-length simulcast and mobile-programmed linear channels from content partners including CBS Mobile, NBC 2Go, ESPN Mobile TV, Fox Mobile, Fox News, CNBC, MSNBC, Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon. While the company has not disclosed official subscriber totals, Milne says the figure is "well north" of 100,000. He adds that subscribers tune into the service an average of 20 minutes per day, spread across four or five viewing sessions: "What we've kind of seen that works well for snackable content is live viewing," Milne adds. [FierceWirelessContent]

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