ATLANTA—Cingular Wireless L.L.C. expanded its mobile TV offerings, launching a streaming video service featuring short clips from 18 channels.
Cingular Video is available free to subscribers purchasing the carrier’s unlimited 3G data plan, which costs $20 a month. Content providers for the service include ESPN, NBC, the Cartoon Network, Disney Mobile Studios and CNN.
Video from HBO will be available for an additional $5 a month.
The carrier also introduced two phones to support the service, the LG Electronics Co. Ltd. CU320 and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. SGH-ZX10. Both phones cost $100 with a two-year contract. The carrier added that two new handsets from Nokia Corp. and LG will be available in coming months.
The video offering is available in 16 cities in which Cingular offers high-speed wireless service, including Houston, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington.
“The service is designed with today’s mobile consumer in mind, and users are never more than a few clicks from their favorite programs,” said Sam Hall, vice president of Cingular’s mobile browse and developer program.
Mobile technology developer Qpass is powering the service, which runs on RealNetworks Inc.’s Helix OnlineTV platform. Qpass also announced a “multi-year” agreement to provide mobile commerce services for Cingular.
The move marks a major step for Cingular, which has been relatively conservative in offering multimedia entertainment offerings. The news marks Cingular’s first branded video service, although it has offered MobiTV for months.
Competitors Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Wireless each offer branded video services, and have also launched full-track music downloads, which Cingular has yet to deploy.
