MUMBAI: UTV New Media has launched its music video channel on mobile TV called UTV@play.
The channel will provide music lovers with a place where they can access videos and music not only from Bollywood but also from different languages. International songs from artists like Bryan Adams, Akon, PussyCat Dolls, Metallica will also be available.
UTV@Play is available on Idea, Vodafone, BSNL and MTNL. Users can access it in two ways. They can send an SMS. In response to the message, the WAP link is sent to the user, to download the application. They can also directly download the app from the operators’ WAP portals.
UTV@Play will showcase music videos in Hindi, English, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bhojpuri and Marathi languages in the first phase of its launch. This would expand to Malayalam, Bengali and Gujarati languages in the second phase. This facility is now available to the users at a subscription of Rs 10 per day or at Rs 30 for the entire month.
"UTV New media is in constant endeavor for innovation and offers youth of the country with the best content in the digital space. We are extremely pleased to launch music video channel on UTV@play which is India’s first full music video channel giving the subscriber an absolute TV viewing experience on the mobile handset. We are sure that the youth will accept with utmost zeal and enthusiasm," said UTV New Media CEO T N Prabhu.
Research proves that music is the highest consumed content on the mobile. This area however remains unaddressed till now in the mobile TV space. While other players are merely offering a replica of programming on some other medium, UTV@Play has entered this area with content specially available to be consumed on mobile and maximum compatibility to ensure that the need gap is filled.
The total mobile subscriber base in India, across all operators, is 36.5 crores as on February 2009. Of this huge number, the total active subscriber base is mere 1,00,000 across all channels & operators (as on 14 November, 2008). These are users who have compatible handsets and have subscribed to mobile TV. This shows that there is tremendous potential for mobile TV in India.
