MUMBAI: OpenTV, which provides enabling technologies for advanced digital television services and mobile technology firm weComm, have announced a partnership.

They will provide integrated mobile television solutions to OpenTV's worldwide pay TV customer base and to other broadcasters and programmers interested in providing an experience across traditional broadcast television and mobile TV.

OpenTV senior VP and MD Europe, Middle east and Africa Ben Bennett says, "We are delighted that we will be able to offer a seamless solution to our customers that bridges the pay TV experience with the mobile phone experience in a user-friendly manner.

"This integrated solution is intended to make it easy for our customers to extend their TV experience across multiple platforms and devices, and to allow those viewers to personalise that experience in ever more compelling ways. One simple example of this Mobile TV is to enable OpenTV's PVR users to record programmes seamlessly and remotely from the mobile handset."
The integrated solution combines features and functionalities from OpenTV's advanced digital television software, in particular its middleware offering, and weComm's wave technology. The solution extends OpenTV's middleware features into the mobile environment, allowing direct access on the mobile phone to electronic programming guides (EPGs) that have been ported to OpenTV's platform.

The solution also enables mobile phone users to remotely programme their PVRs and to view live or on-demand television programming by navigating through the EPG resident on their phone.

weComm COO Oliver Sturrock says, "Integrating weComm's Interactive Mobile TV technology with OpenTV's industry-leading technologies offers a solution that will seamlessly extend TV-based interactive services to the mobile phone. We think that these solutions will help broadcasters and operators extend their content and services to a younger and more mobile audience.

"And we think that by combining OpenTV's and weComm's expertise and technologies, we can do that in an effective and seamless way that will eventually lead the market."
The weComm solution is available on Symbian OS, Microsoft Windows Mobile and Java phones and has been ported to over 100 handsets, including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Samsung, LG and the RIM Blackberry.