Mobile video provider mywaves premiered its 10,000-channel mobile broadcasting service, a major expansion of the 500-channel beta version the Silicon Valley firm rolled out in October. Mywaves routes Internet video streams from the Internet to mobile handsets, effectively circumventing carrier content distribution deals in the process--users simply download the necessary software at the mywaves.com website to receive content ranging from CNN reports to user-generated clips. The service is free, but supported by paid advertising; mywaves is also rumored to be in discussion with carriers to launch a premium service. According to mywaves, the service currently boasts 20,000 subscribers in 85 countries.
"Mobile video offerings today simply mirror the traditional TV broadcasting models, burdening consumers with inflexible scheduled programming, premium channels, fees and limited choice," mywaves CEO and founder Rajeev Raman said in a prepared statement. "We envision providing Web-style freedom as well as Web-style entertainment on the mobile phone--letting consumers discover and choose from thousands of video channels, whether it's professional programming, user-generated content or personal videos."
For more on mywaves:
- read this release [1]