FLO TV is a service of MediaFLO, a division of Qualcomm. The MediaFLO broadcast system is Qualcomm's new technology to broadcast data to portable devices such as cell phones and PDAs. With this new technology the television experience is no longer tied to the living room. FLO TV was developed to deliver full-bandwidth television to the mobile user without the current restraints of the stops and starts of current streaming methods. The question was how can rich content be delivered to millions of mobile users, and how can mobile operators deliver a compelling number of TV feeds without over-burdening their networks. MediaFLO technology was specifically designed to overcome these challenges.
With use of mobile phones on the rise, nearly doubling to 4.9 billion users by the year 2012, the broadcast industry saw an opportunity to extend its offerings to the mobile environment. The problem was that broadcast TV and the mobile phone industry rely on divergent technologies to deliver content. MediaFLO bridges that gap.
The transformation of video content from media outlets to mobile devices is the job of the MediaFLO System. The MediaFLO System consists of the network operations center (see Figure below) and transmitter sites, both of which include a number of components that perform many sophisticated functions.
The network operations center’s primary responsibilities are to ingest video content from satellite feeds and/or fiber optics and to reformat the video in preparation for broadcast. The formatted video is then distributed to multiple regional transmitter sites that broadcast the video to MediaFLO-enabled mobile devices within range of the broadcast towers.
FLO TV–enabled phones are designed with mobility in mind. Turn mobile TV on, turn it off, answer a call, or send it to voicemail – all with one button functionality. And, an easy–to–use program guide makes finding and selecting programs easy. Switching channels takes less than two seconds. Scroll up. Scroll down. There are no complicated menus or commands here. Now, watching TV on the go is as easy as watching TV at home.
The FLO TV service is delivered over a dedicated multicast network rather than a cellular one. What does that mean? It means you don’t have to worry about a reduction in voice or data quality. It also means you have a nearly instant, seamless transmission of TV, without any buffering or lag time.
On a personal note, I’m not sure this is a technology I would be interested in right now, but I can see the advantage of such a service, especially the live content, for many people. Having access to live information in today’s world is a necessity for many business people, and others who require real-time information.
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