By Tan Ooi Boon

COMING to the small screens of mobile phones soon, the latest news breaks, live football matches and even popular television dramas.

I am not referring to the delayed footage or downloads which are streamed to phones via the Internet.

This is the real deal - 'live' television broadcast which is channelled directly to special TV phones using a digital video technology.

Testing

The three local telecommunications service providers are now testing a new mobile TV service which enables users to enjoy the cable TV experience on their phones.

This is possibly the hottest application to hit the mobile phone market in recent years.

But users must first get hold of a new TV phone, such as the Samsung P-960 (pictured), which comes with a big screen and a pull-out TV antennae.

The service is so user-friendly that even a six-year-old can activate the TV function easily.

Just pull out the antennae, press the special TV button on the menu and the phone will automatically search for the TV signal.

I had a sneak peek of the new service from M1 which I must say is pretty impressive.

In a nutshell, this is cable TV on the fly.

The sound and visual reception is as good as standard cable TV with hardly any break in transmission at all.

When I was testing the service during the height of the Beijing Olympics, I was able to watch the live coverage when I was at Orchard Road, along the Seletar Expressway and even when I was visiting a farm in Lim Chu Kang.

Apart from news and sports, there are also programmes for kids, soap operas and even Taiwanese talk shows.

Just like ordinary phones, the signal may weaken and drop a few bars at certain 'blind spots', but the TV phone will usually recover quickly after a minor interruption.

Pricing details are not available as the telcos are still gathering consumer feedback.

M1 CEO Neil Montefiore said: 'We hope to better understand consumer preferences and behaviour that will enable us to define realistic service standards for the exciting new world of mobile TV.'

What's the plan?

Perhaps one way to go is to offer customers attractive bundled deals. For instance, they can sign up for a monthly plan which will allow them to watch a certain number of channels and even get the TV phone free or at a discounted price.

The plan should also come with a certain amount of talktime and SMSes because this is after all a phone service.

I hope telcos won't consider charging according to the TV airtime.

How can one enjoy watching the TV phone when you know that a meter is ticking away furiously somewhere?

This article was first published in The New Paper on September 20, 2008.