Hiwire, SES Americom announce mobile TV trial lineup

Hiwire and SES Americom announced today the initial group of TV content companies and channels that will contribute to the lineup for their upcoming mobile TV consumer trial in Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas trial will deliver up to three times as many channels as any other mobile TV network in the U.S. It will have seven channels from Discovery Communications, including Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, Discovery Kids and the dedicated mobile network, Discovery Mobile; six channels from MTV Networks, including CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Spike TV and VH1; two channels from Turner Broadcasting, including Cartoon Network/Adult Swim Mobile and CNN Mobile Live; and AccuWeather.com, Anime Network, E!, Fox News Channel, MavTV, Travel Channel and The Weather Channel.

Hiwire and SES Americom are hoping to add more programming services, which will be finalized prior to the consumer launch scheduled for this month.

“By joining our impressive 24-channel lineup,” said Bill Squadron, president of SES Americom’s IP-PRIME division, in a prepared statement, “this innovative group of programmers and networks will be able to learn right along with us when it comes to the consumer preferences and technical performance that the trial demonstrates.”

Test participants will use the Hiwire Digital Video Broadcast-Handheld system on their cell phones. Hiwire is a subsidiary of Aloha Partners and will utilize its parent company’s 700 MHz spectrum capacity to deliver the service.