[3GScottishUser]

From Mobile Enetertainment (02/11/2006):

3 UK is to add 27 channels from BSkyB to its mobile TV service, which generated 3.1 million viewing sessions in the three months to end-September.
The Sky content includes a mix of made for mobile and live simulcast channels and will run alongside 3's existing MobiTV-powered channel offering. The viewing figure was up 24 per cent from the previous quarter.

3 users will be able to choose from three themed packs of channels, each charged at £5.00 per month for unlimited access. The service will be free for all customers who sign up for the package for the first month. The three packs include:

Sky News and Sport Pack: Sky News; Sky Sports News; Discovery Factual; CNN; Bloomberg; At The Races; Extreme Sports Channel; National Geographic; History Channel; and Biography Channel.

Sky Entertainment Pack: Sky One; Sky Movies Mobile; MTV Snax; MTV Trax; Nickelodeon; Paramount Comedy Channel; Cartoon Network; Living; E!; Bravo and Discovery Lifestyle.

Sky Music Pack: Kiss; MTV Snax; MTV Trax; The Box; Kerrang; Smash Hits; IMF1; and IMF2.

Stephen Nuttall, BSkyB’s director of business development, said: “We’re delighted to be working with 3 to give millions more people the chance to enjoy TV on the move. The success of Sky Mobile TV has shown there’s a real appetite for innovative services that allow customers to choose when and where they watch.”

Graeme Oxby, marketing director of 3 UK, said: “We are the leader in mobile TV with the widest range of channels available on our network. We also have the largest number of 3G customers with the capability to watch TV on their mobiles. We see the addition of Sky as a natural step and a great fit to enhance our already successful TV portfolio.”

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/newsitem.php?id=24686

Note: Interesting that the 3 channel line up is 50% more than the Sky + Extras Vodafone TV package. £15 a month seems a lot for a mobile Tv package (£150.00 a year, or £29 more than you pay for your TV Licence!!)

[getti]

You still got to admit its a great lineup of TV, especially with ITV

[bsrjl1]

Cracking stuff, can't wait to watch a movie (probably with black bars at top/bottom) on my small screen phone. Plus my battery will probably die half-way though...

[Ben]

'Good' mobile TV finally comes to Three, hurrah :D Lets face it, the Sky channels on Vodafone are pretty good for what they are, if that's replicated on Three it can only be a good thing. I only hope they ditch that god awful MobiTV, it's a disgrace.

[3GScottishUser]

Movies are not really featured as Sky Movies Mobile is a promo channel with Top 10 clips etc.... most of the Sky line-up is looped programming.

[3g-g]

I would really like to see Sky take the whole TV market, with some input from the BBC preferably, ideally, with current Sky package subscribers being able to view the lot for no extra cost, not that a fiver is a great amount, however, £43 a month then the extra £5 is asking a bit much IMO!

[3GScottishUser]

It would appear that 3 are not the only ones to get the Sky deal as it has been reported that Orange have done a similar deal which will bring 22 Sky channels to their 3G platform by Christmas. Orange are reporting that they have 1.5 million UK 3G customers now.

[Hands0n]

Oh dear, 2006's "3G Killer App" . I remain to be convinced, seeing as the mobile ops got it wrong each time so far.

In my opinion, the killer for this new killer app will be their tariffs for mobile TV. As 3GSU says;


£15 a month seems a lot for a mobile Tv package (£150.00 a year, or £29 more than you pay for your TV Licence!!)

I'd need to not have a regular TV before £15 a month becomes appealing. Somehow, these people have to make TV work [for them] to make it work for us [at a reasonable and acceptable cost]. Otherwise it will end up on the same shelf as Videocalling, which inccidentally, is still horrendously overpriced and subsequently little used outwith bundles.

Just because it can do TV does not mean that we'll be buying it in droves at any price. The buying public just does not do Premium anymore, if it ever did wholesale as the mobile ops expect us to. The evidence? As voicecall costs and SMS costs (originally 60p each) came down the public went crazy and bought into it big time. And, dear mobops, the lesson behind this is?????

They never learn, poor dears :D

[miffed]

I am thinking of gettinga handset solely to try out mobile TV

The last time I looked into this , there were many "handset compatibility" issues
I have looked on Three's site , and there is no mention of which handsets are compatible and which ones aren't - so am I right to assume ALL handsets are now compatible with TV ?

[Ben]

Well, MobiTV as Orange and 3G started out with was an application that needed to be installed in order to view the 'TV' channels.

Since then Vodafone came out first with the Sky offering. It's just streaming video, so pretty much any handset should be compatible, yes. I assume the Sky service will be the same/very similar across the networks that adopt it.

[3g-g]

Will it be worth spending a tenner for the c975 and putting the £5 in a month for mobile TV alongside your normal handset?

[3GScottishUser]

Not sure if the Moto C975 supports mobile TV..... not all of 3's handsets support all of the services.

[Hands0n]

Will it be worth spending a tenner for the c975 and putting the £5 in a month for mobile TV alongside your normal handset?

Nooooooooooo, C975 ........... Run away, run away! :D

I'd want to see it all working first - a visit to the local 3 store would seem to be in order. I know that Vodafone's streaming Sky TV is par excellent, given the format it is in.

It all rather depends on the handset though. When first launched, I viewed Sky TV on my Sony Ericsson W900i and it was good viewing, all things considered. But 3GSU viewed the same content on the smaller screen-based Samsung Z500V and observed that it was hard/impossible to read the scrolling banners at the bottom of the news channel.

The 3 and Orange flirtation with MobiTV was abysmal - the application and back-end feeds are as dire as a very dire thing. I gave up after the first week and removed it from the Nokia 6680, it really was that bad!

Maybe this is a question for a Poll but ...... how many of y'all actually get the time to watch mobile TV on your handset when not at home? Would you watch it at home, and if so why? I know it has great appeal when there is a big game on but for general use ...... ?? I am left as puzzled as those who question Videocalling (the latter of which I am a great fanboy lol!).

NB: My smallest TV is 32" and the largest 106" (projector) - really, watching a 2" screen does little for me, personally. I can just about accept the quality of a movie on a Sony PSP, only just!

[miffed]

Out of curiousity .... I remembered my old lg u8110 was on top of the cupboard - and that IIRC three had switched my account to PAYG when I kicked them into touch ...

So .... I nipped out and bought a top up .... my thinking being, if it works on an LG u8110 it'll work on anything :D

So far I have established that I can get ITV1 , and many other channels for 99p per day .. but unfortunately , I can't have the ADD TV add on , because supposedly my device (it specifically mentioned the u8110 !) does not support streaming video :rolleyes: ...I also note up PAYG customers can't have the add on
Interesting that they are happy to let me view the channels one at a time for 99p a go , but then tell me the very same channels won't work for £5 flat rate ? ..... not sure I understand :(

Anyway - I must say the current crop of offerings on Three look FAR better than when I last looked (yonks ago !) - it doesn't seem to be very quick TBH though - about the same speed as my m3100 in a 2.5g area

I am on the brink of giving Three another go though on the basis of my findings though - Maybe a k800i , e61 , or perhaps a w950i :) (if I can bring myself to wait a while ) ..... I have been looking for an excuse to get my hands on either of the phones I mentioned - just hope Three's branding won't make me cry:(

[miffed]

Nooooooooooo, C975 ........... Run away, run away! :D

I'd want to see it all working first - a visit to the local 3 store would seem to be in order. I know that Vodafone's streaming Sky TV is par excellent, given the format it is in.

It all rather depends on the handset though. When first launched, I viewed Sky TV on my Sony Ericsson W900i and it was good viewing, all things considered. But 3GSU viewed the same content on the smaller screen-based Samsung Z500V and observed that it was hard/impossible to read the scrolling banners at the bottom of the news channel.

The 3 and Orange flirtation with MobiTV was abysmal - the application and back-end feeds are as dire as a very dire thing. I gave up after the first week and removed it from the Nokia 6680, it really was that bad!

Maybe this is a question for a Poll but ...... how many of y'all actually get the time to watch mobile TV on your handset when not at home? Would you watch it at home, and if so why? I know it has great appeal when there is a big game on but for general use ...... ?? I am left as puzzled as those who question Videocalling (the latter of which I am a great fanboy lol!).

NB: My smallest TV is 32" and the largest 106" (projector) - really, watching a 2" screen does little for me, personally. I can just about accept the quality of a movie on a Sony PSP, only just!

Boring job mate - can end up staring at the walls for hours ;)

[miffed]

Rigghhht ......

Done a little research

I really wanted an e61 - and I also wanted to try out mobile TV for a while .... But it turns out , Three's E61 doesn't support Three's services ! :mad:

..... so the only other option would be to get it on Voda - who don't seem to be "playing 3G" around here very well at all in my experience (no 3G at home , at work , at my best freinds house or my Parents house ... pretty crap state of affairs vodafone ! - considering T-mobile now score 4/4 on those locations .... (OK so the it may be a different case altogether in the rest of the country - but thats not much good to me is it ? )

Surely this is a bit silly for Three , to go down the route of selling handsets they don't support ? - also , this renders the £5 free downloads a bit pointless too , wonder if they'll knock a fiver off of the Line rental for me ?

[getti]

The e61 does support 3 services. It was only at launch it did not and was something to do with firmware. I heard big you gotta do is update to the latest firmware and it will work fine

[Ben]

Re: Vodafone 3G coverage, woah, is it really that bad miffed? :o

I'm in Chestfield and I get Voda 3G. I also get it over at Pean Hill. If Voda have managed to light up 'the sticks' then I can't imagine why they wouldn't have filled the holes where people might actually use 3G!

[miffed]

well my last experience was with my 6680 - I got no 3G at belmont road (nr station) or Tankerton
The only thing it , there was no option on the Voda branded 6680 to lock to 3G only - so it is possible that there was a 3G signal "hiding" behind the 2g one
All a bit bizzare , as I remember using my XDA exec on 3G yonks ago and getting a pretty good signal (I posted about this strange phenomenom at the time)
The other reason I wasnt putting a lot of faith in Voda's 3G coverage was that their own coverage map shows no coverage - although I expect the info is probably way out of date
A similar thing goes for the E61 / Three services thing Dan , I have seen people saying the same as you , but also others saying even after the upgrade you are limited to My three , Websites & Messaging ? - and Three's site seems to confirm this (once again , how up to date this is I don't know

Think the best COA is to go and have a play with one :D

[getti]

the frimware when u get the phone has limited access. however get it updated and u get full access. I also think the e61 is available via the nokia update website so u can do yourself.

a very nice phone. only bad point is no camera, apart from that I loved the phone

[Hands0n]

WTF are 3 doing selling handsets intended for their services that cannot be used with their service without a firmware upgrade? Doh! Do they seriously have to keep repeating their own history and learn nothing!

Can you just hear the Mumbai CS team's advice ..... "Take out the SIM and wipe it with a dry cloth".

You just couldn't make this stuff up!!

[miffed]

LOL !

Yeah , bunch of idiots .... won't catch me using them again :rolleyes:


But , having said that

My E61 on three is winging its way to me as we speak :D

I know it'll end in tears - but just couldn't help myself :(

[Hands0n]

3 are, at times, like Herpes. Impossible to get rid of! :D

[hecatae]

£180 a year for something i'd never use...

[miffed]

Gaaahhhh !!!

Bloody Three / nokia / microsoft garbage !!

Got the e61 , sure enough , none of the services work (as expected)

Go onto the Nokia firmware updater ... only to find it needs a min of 256mb ram on Windows machine (only windows computer I have has 192mb :mad: :mad: :mad: )

Why can't they just sell stuff that works out of the box? its 2006 FFS !!

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

So , I decide "I know , I'll look for a nokia service centre "

http://www.nokia.co.uk/nokia/0,,77483,00.html

^^^^ Try it for yourself - just hangs !!

Aren't nokia great ?

[3g-g]

So , I decide "I know , I'll look for a nokia service centre "

http://www.nokia.co.uk/nokia/0,,77483,00.html

^^^^ Try it for yourself - just hangs !!

Aren't nokia great ?

That's working fine for me that link! You wanna send me your postcode and I'll search for you!? :p

[miffed]

heyy !

The clock works - how cool is that ?

....... And there was me thinking I had bought a lemon !

[miffed]

well just spoke to cs ( lol !)

I was hoping to arrange a reflash or replacement (I don't quite understand the thinking behind sending out handsets with the old firmware , but anyhoo) ... as the rep began to tell me to "take out the battery , remove the simcard and wipe.....".it all suddenly fell into place ! "what am I doing here ???" I thought...
"Tell you what mate, just give us a return authorisation number & you can have it back "

I then put in an order for one off vodafone - not a huge fan of voda - but I am pretty confident that it'll work , which is more than can be said for Threes attempt

[Ben]

Well, FWIW, I think you did the right thing. No company should be rewarded with custom for such dire CS.

[miffed]

yeah , I know ! .. can't believe I expected things to be any different , considering my ample experience in dealing with Three
on the plus side ... the delivery was bloody quick !

looks like Vodafone are to be hosting my TV experiment then , wonder why tmobile can't just make it easy for me and offer this service themselves ?

[Hands0n]

I have this strongest of desires to say "I told you so ....." but you really don't want to hear that from me now, do you? :D

Why, oh why, am I not at all surprised at your brief re-flirtation with 3. They have not changed their spots, that particular leopard simply cannot. All you have to hope is that 3's RAN is effective and that you get a quick release from the pain and suffering you almost caused yourself at their hands.

Another day....... another lost 3 customer ..... well done Bob Fuller, still not listening, are you.

[3GScottishUser]

I think Bob is now just keeping the chair warm for his successor from H3G Australia.

His most recent remarks re convergence revolving around mobile services to the trade mean 3 UK will have to compete on mobile pricing alone whilst others converge landline, broadband and TV services.

If the above proves correct and remains the strategy, 3 UK will be hamstrung and maybe HWL now relaise it's time for some new direction at Maidenhead.

[miffed]

LOL !!

Just woken up , walked downstairs all bleary eyed and saw the boxed up Three E61 on the sideboard waiting to be posted ....

You know that feeling you get when you have gotten blind drunk and found someone undesirable in your bed & can't remember how the hell that happened ? :D :D

[getti]

It is a nice phone...... its a shame about the service on 3 sometimes. All depends who you get i have found.

I had a question i emailed them and i got 2 phone calls which i ignored to get a voicemail from the indian centre. 3rd time i got a call it was scotland and its been the same before a few times so i guess 3rd time lucky is the right saying.

3 glasgow have never been more than helpful to me since i started my contract back in November 2005.

The problem with 3 is ALWAYS down to the indian call centre because lets just face it.... we dont understand each other 99% of the time.

The thing is EVERYTIME i say im going to leave 3 i just cant lol. I know someone who works for 3 in scotland who has been a diamond since i met him over at What Mobile!.

Any questions have been sorted out for me and i dont just owe him a few drinks.... i owe him a pub!.

He put a discount code on for me and to be honest even though the indian service is dire 99% of the time an i moan over and over about handover i cannot get a better deal than i do (and will be getting!).

Upgrading next month (or this) to a HSDPA LG U830 phone and the plan i get will be really good value anyone will agree.

Personalised Plan (Which is Flext 35) with a discount making it £27 a month for £180 of use PLUS 512mb a month of data (as long as they dont take it off which they should not so i will be ok).

That and a HSDPA connection plus being able to stream ITV and Sky over HSDPA will be great!. Especially as by March 2007 all 3 sites will be covered by HSDPA (which will include me).

I know i moan about them but they must offer something special to keep me..... or maybe its the fact they are the ONLY network i can get a contract with and dont want to loose it :D