AT&T Finally Launching MediaFLO TV in May

In what has to be one of the more interestingly timed announcements, late yesterday afternoon AT&T put out a press release saying that it will (finally!) launch its MediaFLO-based mobile TV service in May. That’s the service they promised would launch no later than the end of ’07.

What makes the timing interesting is that Paul Jacobs, CEO of MediaFLO parent Qualcomm, gave a speech yesterday morning lamenting the fact that consumer uptake of the mobile TV service has been slower than the company would have liked.

So far, Verizon Wireless is the only carrier to offer MediaFLO TV, which it hypes under the V CAST Mobile TV brand. Also, because the service runs over a proprietary MediaFLO network, there aren’t a whole lot of phones that support it. Verizon has four and AT&T will launch with two, Reuters reports.

Expected channels include CBS Mobile, Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile TV, Fox Mobile, MTV, NBC 2GO, NBC News2Go and Nickelodeon plus a couple of exclusives.

AT&T isn’t talking pricing yet, but Verizon’s service starts at $13 a month.

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