TV Guide, Roundbox partner for mobile programming grid

TV Guide Mobile Entertainment today announced it would team with wireless broadcast software developer Roundbox to develop and market the TV Guide Mobile Electronic Service Guide [ESG], which will translate the magazine's familiar programming grid to the nascent mobile TV medium.

"Mobile is very important to TV Guide," said Rich Cusick, senior VP and general manager of digital media with Gemstar-TV Guide International, in an interview with FierceMobileContent. "We want to expand the range of services we cover, and we want to use mobile to enhance the traditional viewer experience."

The ESG combines TV Guide's interface design and programming data with Roundbox's technology to offer mobile subscribers a comprehensive listing of what's available for viewing via live streaming, video-on-demand and other multimedia applications. The service is platform-agnostic, and designed to support network protocols including FLO, DVB-H, MBMS and unicast streaming.

"The problems we solve are content discovery and navigation--the ESG lists all of the available content in a familiar grid format, complete with metadata like program descriptions," said Jim Nelson, founder and co-chairman of Roundbox, in an interview with FMC. "It looks like the familiar cable guide by design--we believe that familiar user navigation concepts apply strongly to the mobile space."

Nelson said that the ESG is ready for controlled release, and while there are no deals to announce, Roundbox and TV Guide Mobile Entertainment are currently in talks with all the major U.S. wireless carriers.

For more on the TV Guide/Roundbox announcement:
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