Live TV Comes To iPhone, Touch Via Wi-Fi
By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 3/12/2009
Emeryville, Calif. — Live TV is coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch via Wi-Fi with the announcement by MobiTV and CBS Sports that they will stream live video of the NCAA March Madness tournament to users who buy a $4.99 application from the Apple iTunes App Store.
The application’s official name is “CBS Sports Mobile: NCAA March Madness On Demand.”
MobiTV already supplies live TV over cellular airwaves to many handsets in the United States but not to the iPhone, a spokesman said. “This is a first, real live-TV app for the iPhone and iPod Touch,” the spokesman stressed.
“MobiTV is making significant steps in bringing its flagship MobiTV service to the iPhone [via cellular],” he added.
The MobiTV-powered Wi-Fi application will feature live Wi-Fi video of all 63 games of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship from March 19 through April 6. Live audio of each game, however, can be streamed via the iPhone’s cellular 3G and EDGE technologies as well as live updates, stats and video-on-demand highlights of games.
The application delivers a “clickable” tournament bracket showing all tournament teams and allows users to touch any current game to launch live TV of the game.
