AirChord mobile TV set to go live in May

By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 17 April 2007, 19:30 IST
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New Delhi: Doordarshan’s attempt to jump on to the mobile TV bandwagon notwithstanding, Delhi-based AirChord TeleVentures is all set to launch its mobile television service next month, reported The Telegraph. “The service will enable cell phone users to watch 50 to 60 real-time broadcast television channels on their GPRS-enabled handsets,” Sanjay Sinha, CEO, AirChord TeleVentures was quoted by the paper. AirChord is in the last stages of finalizing deals with various channels, including Zee, MTV, B4U, India TV and few regional channels. Sinha was quoted as saying that the company was in the process of partnering with telecom operators, including Bharti Airtel and Hutch. It is also preparing a list of content providers. “We are in talks with content providers at home and abroad. AirChord will soon bring international content for Indian users,” he said. AirChord will operate on a 40 to 60 per cent revenue share model with its channel partners, which include service and content providers and handset manufacturers. With this setup, the multimedia service provider aims to garner over Rs 1 million per month from the mobile TV service, starting October 2007, the report noted. “The Indian market has a great potential for mobile TV services as the subscription base is growing at a phenomenal rate. More than six million customers are signing up for mobile services each month. With 3G also coming in, we are confident of having the first-mover advantage in the country,” Sinha told Telegraph. According to industry experts, teenagers and young professionals want to be in touch with the latest news or music while they are on the move. Hence, a technology — in a handset — that allows one to make calls while watching the stock market climb or fall will be in great demand, they feel. “Our target audience is mainly mobile subscribers between 17 and 45 years, who have a GPRS-enabled handset and know what value a mobile can provide,” said Anil Sharma, president, AirChord TeleVentures. Sharma predicted that by the end of 2008, more than 16 million handsets would have AirChord mobile TV. AirChord is already in talks with handset makers such as Nokia, Samsung and LG to embed the content application and is in the final stages of signing some deals. On the question of a foray into the internet protocol television (IPTV), Sinha told the publication, “It is in the pipeline, but initially we want to capture the market potential available in the mobile TV segment.”