This should create more competition for Qualcomm MediaFlo and Modeo (from Crown Castle) in the mobile TV arena in U.S.: Satellite operator SES Global S.A. is joining with a start-up company, Aloha Partners LP, that controls a big swath of mobile broadcast spectrum across the U.S., to devlop mobile TV services here.
SES seeks to carve out a niche in the rapidly-evolving mobile segment by using its satellites to beam music and TV channels to wireless transmission facilities on the ground. The programming is then slated to be further tailored to local markets and distributed to cellphone users or subscribers of other wireless networks. A yearlong test is planned to begin this fall in Las Vegas, though negotiations with programmers and leading cellular providers still have to be worked out.
It is ambitious: the plans are to simultaneously distribute as many as 40 higher-resolution video channels directly to handsets, more than MediaFlo (20 channels) and Modeo (nine channels and uses DVB-H). Aloha has spent about $150 million over the past few years acquiring broadcast spectrum.