(20 December 2006 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: This is a deal that looks to push television on the mobile in New Zealand.

Sky Television and Vodafone have launched a new TV service, Sky Mobile TV. The new mobile service is for customers of Vodafone with 3G handsets. The service will be available from early next year and will comprise a bundle of at least eight channels for a $2.50 per week subscription. As an introductory offer, early subscribers will receive the first three weeks free.

Sky Mobile TV will deliver a variety of entertainment and information channels, including an exclusive made-for-mobile news channel [Sky News] plus sport and documentary programmes. Some channels will be broadcast as live and others will be edited for mobile.

Channels that are available include Sky Sport News, Sky News, Sky Movies, CNN, MTV, E! and Cartoon Network. Sky will also broadcast live sports events including Rugby, International cricket and European football. These will be available to Vodafone’s Sky Mobile TV subscribers on a pay per view basis

Sky CEO John Fellet says, "Our strategy is to offer content to customers anytime, anywhere so that they can watch what they want, when they want to. SKY Mobile TV enables people to keep up with the latest news, sport and entertainment wherever they are. Vodafone is an ideal partner to make this happen and we look forward to developing this relationship further.”

Vodafone CEO Russell Stanners says, “We’re excited to be able to offer this service to our customers in partnership with SKY. Multi channel mobile TV is an important element of our content strategy. The mobile broadcast of live sport events is an area where mobile TV has taken off internationally and is one that we feel certain sports fans in New Zealand will embrace”.