TORONTO, ONTARIO: BlackBerry users will be able to watch TV on their RIM devices next month when a company called “QuickPlay Media” launches PrimeTime2Go. The $7.99 per-month service will be available via BlackBerry’s App World storefront, enabling the download of full episodes of several network shows. The catalog includes NBC’s “The Office;” CBS’s “CSI,” MTV’s “The Hills;” and parts of “90210.”
BlackBerry Bold and Curve phones--offered through AT&T and T-Mobile--will be able to access the service. Programming is said to be viewable during WiFi-delivered downloads, or offline. Customers will also be able to subscribe to an entire season of shows and have them automatically downloaded after the original air date.
Broadcasters are poised to enter the mobile TV market with an official launch in Washington, D.C. this summer, and 28 more markets by the end of the year. Enabled devices are expected to be on store shelves around the time the service goes live in those markets. A comprehensive list of such devices has not been released, but Dell is said to have a prototype netbook with a receiver and LG and Samsung are building cell phones to the Mobile DTV standard. The service will have to compete with Verizon’s VCast and video services from AT&T and Sprint. -- Deborah D. McAdams
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