After months of speculation and rumor, Qualcomm has officially announced their intentions to draw down the FLO TV service… assuming a buyer can’t be found:
While this process continues, we are suspending our direct to consumer sales of new devices. We anticipate we will maintain the network so that current direct to consumer subscribers will continue to receive FLO programming into Spring 2011. Service provided to handsets purchased through wireless operators is unaffected at this time. In the event of a discontinuance of service, FLO TV will make appropriate refunds, the details of which will be communicated prior to discontinuation.
Like way too many other services, I’m a paying FLO TV subscriber – thanks to hardware provided by TSS Radio. And while I quite like the HTC-produced device and television content is mostly decent, I never figured MediaFLO as long for this world. There’s a very small number of folks willing to buy dedicated hardware in addition to taking on yet another monthly subscription (~$16/mo).
FLO TV utilizes cellular frequencies to transmit video, including a small amount of simulcast television programming – which is where I think they add value over the likes of say Hulu Plus (above left) or Netflix on iOS over 3G. But leasing the spectrum on top of that content licensing can’t be cheap and is probably what sunk this venture. Fortunately, similar content, like CNN and ESPN, is available via MobiTV’s iOS app or SprintTV (which IS Mobi, above right) without requiring dedicated hardware. Granted, the resolution and quality are inferior to the very nice FLO TV Personal Television broadcasts. But it’s much more accessible.
Now that I’ve blogged these few photos of FLO TV, and in lights of Qualcomm ceasing retail sales, I’ll cancel service knowing future firmware updates and enhancements are out of the question at this point. But I hear Sprint may have a phone with a low-power ATSC tuner that I need to check out next…
Click to enlarge: