3 in the
UK offer a
Mobile TV
Mobile television is television watched on a small handheld or mobile device. It includes service delivered via mobile phone networks, received free-to-air via terrestrial television stations, or via satellite broadcast. Regular broadcast stand ...
service across most of their range of phones. It is provided by 3 and independent companies and offers the main genres of: Comedy, Entertainment, Music, Documentaries, Kids programming and user-submitted content. Some channels adopt the branding of well-known channels such as MTV and Nickelodeon, but their programming consists of a repetitive loop that is typically refreshed once a week. This differs from the complete range of content offered by digital television and cable services.
Pricing
3 Mobile TV is available in 3 ways:
* By pay-per-day for 49p. This gives 24 hours of unlimited access to all channels.
* By buying a monthly add-on for £5. Open to Pay monthly (contract) customers only. This gives access to all channels for exactly 1 month.
* By buying a PAYG Mobile TV add-on for £2. This gives access to a restricted service of 4 channels: ITV1, Kiss, Geek TV and MTV Trax. This add-on is valid for exactly 1 month.
Channel listing
* Aardman Animations (exclusive, updated weekly)
* ITV1 (live, but due to legal issues, is unable to show advertisement breaks or certain programmes, mostly sports and films)
* FHM (updated weekly)
* MTV Trax (music videos, updated daily)
* MTV Snax (MTV non-music programming, updated weekly)
* Nickeleodeon (children's programming, updated weekly)
* Vidzone TV (music videos, exclusive, updated weekly)
* Paramount Comedy (updated weekly)
* Geek TV (comedy clips, cartoons and
user-generated content
User-generated content (UGC), alternatively known as user-created content (UCC), is any form of content, such as images, videos, text, testimonials, and audio, that has been posted by users on online platforms such as social media, discussion f ...
, exclusive, updated weekly)
* National Geographic (updated weekly)
* Kerrang! (music videos, updated daily)
* Kiss (music videos)
Former channels
* Zone Reality
* Six Degrees Extreme Sports
* ITN
* ITV Play
* BBC1
* BBC3
The BBC channels were broadcast on 3 for a trial period, and are not currently available.
Issues
* All channels (except ITV1) must be re-connected to after 20 minutes to continue viewing.
* ITV1 must be re-connected to after 30 minutes to continue viewing.
* Most channels are updated weekly.
* The only live channel is ITV1.
* ITV 1 cannot show certain shows.
* National Geographic shows merely clips of its programmes.
* Currently offers no BBC channels.
* A high ratio of music channels compared to other genres.
Related services
3 in the UK also offer a selection of "Free videos" or "Free to watch" content. These are funded by advertisements (Unlike mobile TV which has no commercial advertisements).
The main competitor is
Sky Mobile TV
The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space.
In the field of astronomy, ...
, available on
Vodafone UK,
o2 UK
O₂ UK (legally incorporated as Telefonica UK Limited, stylized as O₂) is a British telecommunications services provider, headquartered in Slough, England. It operates under the O2 brand. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 joint ventu ...
and
T-mobile UK
T-Mobile UK was a mobile network operator in the UK. First launched as Mercury One2One (stylised one2one) on 7 January 1993, the network was originally operated by Mercury Communications. one2one was purchased by Deutsche Telekom in 1999, w ...
.
MobiTV
MobiTV, Inc. (formerly named Idetic, Inc.) is a provider of live and on-demand video delivery solutions, headquartered in Emeryville, California. MobiTV is a privately held, venture-backed company, and was founded in 1999 by Paul Scanlan, Phillip A ...
, which used to be a competitor of Virgin Mobile, is no longer available in Europe as it has ceased its operations there.
External links
3 Mobile TV official site
Mobile telephone broadcasting