RSSReal, Cingular Sign Streaming TV Deal
By Ed Oswald | Published September 28, 2005, 12:08 PM
RealNetworks on Wednesday unveiled Helix OnlineTV, an application designed to bring interactive television to mobile phones and PCs. Also, in a big win for the company over competitor Microsoft, Real announced Cingular would use the technology for an upcoming video service.
Cingular's choice of Real video indicates that the streaming media company is alive and well, and still looking to directly compete with the market-leading Microsoft -- a spot it once occupied. Verizon uses Windows Media technologies to serve video on its next-generation EV-DO network.
The Helix OnlineTV service would be delivered over Cingular's 3G UMTS/HSDPA network that is expected to begin rolling out in 20 major metropolitan markets later this year. The company says that this is only one of several services Cingular will offer when the high-speed technology arrives.
Application development, hosting of the service, and delivery of content will all be handled by Real. The streaming video would be in Real Video or 3GPP format. Real says the application could also operate across 2.5G networks, such as EDGE.
"RealNetworks' expertise in streaming audio and video, along with the flexibility of their Helix OnlineTV platform will help enable Cingular to give our customers the fastest access possible to the audio and video content they care most about," Jim Ryan, president of data services for Cingular, said in a statement.
When was Real Alternative released - and when was its last update? :P
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|Noo Real still going? just sell the company already it sucks, if you can... you cant sell anything else... no one likes real... cant believe they been using the same base player with near no changes for years - 'pay loads of money for our newest player yet featuring a security fix!' Noooo dont do this to phones pleaseee whyyyyy
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|No sht! Of ALLL the technologies or companies they could have picked - it had to be Real? We have to use the damn things - how about asking the end users what they think?
Ok, now I'm dreaming.
Oh well - not like I'm going to pay Cingular's outrageous data rates to watch "TV" (ya sure) on my PHONE. The "conent they care most about" would be personal video from friends. If you "care about" a TV show - you'd be watching it ON A FRIGGIN TV!
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|Great... so that means we can have adware on our phones now too... Thanks a lot Real. I think I'll pass. I don't want to have to look for an ad blocker for my phone...
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|Why is Real even still around? I wish they would stop trying!
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