So starts the retrenchment on the mobile TV dreams: The tower company Crown Castle has effectively closed off its mobile TV/DVB-H service Modeo, and sold its spectrum to a private equity joint venture....the PE firms Telcom Ventures and Columbia Capital have signed a long-term lease for the nation-wide spectrum until October 2013 at $13 million a year, and as part of the deal.

Crown Castle has transfered all the assets related to its trial network in New York City, and will serve as “the preferred provider of tower infrastructure” for future tower sites for the new venture. CC will take a one-time write-off hit of $10 million on the closed Modeo business, and will write off all its Modeo assets other than spectrum in Q3 this year.

Modeo has been dragging in the US with Qualcomm’s MediaFLO network already having signed two carriers and fellow DVB-H provider Hiwire owning twice the amount of bandwidth as Modeo. Crown Castle has previously said it would launch the network without a carrier partner, saying there are plenty of other markets for mobile TV such as in cars, handheld viewers and so on—which is true, but the mobile handset market is by far the biggest. The deal will let the JV acquire the spectrum in 2013 for the equivalent of $130 million today or lease it at a higher cost for another 10 years. Release.

Question to figure out: what will the two PE players do with the spectrum? RCR: While the aim of the Telcom Ventures-Columbia Capital joint venture is unclear, it may look to tweak Crown Castle’s service but continue to target wireless users with entertainment content. Both Telcom Ventures and Columbia Capital have invested substantial amounts in XM Satellite Radio Inc., and Columbia’s mobile investments include Amp’d Mobile, broadband chipmaker Sandbridge and the wireless advertising startup Millennial Media. 

• Modeo Reports Positive Response To Mobile TV Trial, Reveals Usage Stats
• Modeo’s TV Trials; Still Waiting For A Operator Partner
• HiWire Lines Up 24 Mobile TV Channels