AT&T partners with MobiTV to offer live TV over broadband

San Antonio (TX) - AT&T and MobiTV today announced that the two firms will be launching a new Internet service that will allow subscribers to watch live cable programming through a broadband connection. For a monthly fee, users will be able to stream live content from approximately 20 channels, with more content promised in the future.

According to AT&T, the new service will be the first of its kind for MobiTV to allow streaming of live TV through any broadband connection. Previously, the companies offered a similar service to customers who connected to an AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot. This new deal will expand the availability of the service to anyone with a high-speed Internet connection.

MobiTV, which received an Emmy award last year for engineering achievement, is best known as the company that provides the content for Sprint TV, the broadband-quality video streaming service available on Sprint Power Vision phones. Now that MobiTV is offering a similar client for computers, users will be able to watch live television virtually wherever they are.

The TV content is streamed through a proprietary browser from AT&T, downloadable from any computer, which subscribers can tap into for $20 per month. In addition to simulcasts of cable television, there will also be exclusive made-for-broadband content. Some channels that are available off the bat are HGTV, The Food Network, Bloomberg, Oxygen, and The Weather Channel. The Fox News Channel can also be streamed, but is only accessible by customers who have AT&T Yahoo ! DSL Internet.

This move seems like a natural progression for a society to which Internet video has become increasingly important. Several network and cable channels have their own proprietary video streaming service that allows viewers to watch certain content on an on-demand basis. However, few of these services allow simulcast live streaming.