Verizon unveils live TV service for mobiles

Verizon Wireless and its parent company Verizon Communications unveiled a new mobile TV service and an upgrade to the company's new Fios TV service on Sunday at a press event in Las Vegas before the Consumer Electronics Show kicks off there today.

The new Verizon Wireless service will offer live broadcast TV on mobile phones. And Verizon Communications will launch its next generation of Fios TV service, which will allow viewers to search for content and access video, photos and games more easily on all screens in the home. Both services are expected to launch within the next three months. Details on pricing will be announced at a later date, the company said.

Denny Strigl, chief operating officer of Verizon, said: "Fifty or even five years ago, few people could not have fathomed these two products. And they are only just the beginning. We think if you look at Verizon and its three powerful networks - wireless, fibre and our backbone network - we have an unparalleled opportunity into the future."

The new wireless service will offer viewers full-length and live programming from a number of networks, including CBS, Fox, MTV and NBC. The service, which will air shows after they appear on regular broadcast television, differs from Verizon's existing mobile video service called Vcast, which offers short video clips on demand. The VCast service has been available from Verizon Wireless for almost two years.

Verizon Wireless' VCast TV is the first mobile TV service to use a dedicated video broadcast network built and owned by Qualcomm, called MediaFlo. Qualcomm announced Verizon would be using the network in 2005. Sprint Nextel, which also offers a video service over its 3G cellular network, has been testing the MediaFlo network since last year, a company representative said. But Sprint has not announced whether it plans to offer a live TV broadcast service to its subscribers using the Qualcomm MediaFlo network.

Even though mobile operators such as Cingular Wireless, Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless have spent billions of dollars over the last few years building new 3G wireless networks in order to deliver new services such as video, these 3G networks are inadequate for delivering high volumes of live TV programming, because they are designed to deliver services in a "unicast" fashion. This means that content is delivered to each individual subscriber when it's requested. By contrast, MediaFlo is a dedicated network that broadcasts video to all viewers at once, just as a traditional broadcast television network operates.

The service will debut on two phones, one from Samsung and the VX 9400 from LG.

Verizon also announced it has upgraded the software running its Fios TV service, which will make searching for content much easier, the company said.

The software upgrade will also allow Verizon Fios TV users to get content, such as movies, TV shows, digital pictures, games and music from the internet, onto devices in the home whether it be a PC or a television.

In the future, Verizon also said it plans to expand its Fios TV service to wireless handsets allowing subscribers to remotely control their DVRs from their phones while away from home.

The new version of Fios TV software is currently being tested with "friendly" customers in New Jersey. The company will extend the service throughout the 10 states where it's offering Fios TV later this year.

Marguerite Reardon writes for CNET News.com