Arquiva, the new name for NTL Broadcast, and O2 will add the seven channels, including digital stations BBC News 24 and ITV2, to its original seven channel line-up, to test its DVB-H television broadcast signals via mobile phones.
The trial is due to take place in Oxford from September to January 2006. Pre-testing is already under way with up to 400 Nokia multimedia phones handed out to O2 customers in the region. It will assess factors such as scaleability, consumer experience, content mix and consumer choice.
If the trial proves successful, it will pave the way for the technology to be introduced in a new wave of mobile digital TV handsets, which could replace the current 3G technology.
Terry Howard, Arquiva's head of media business development, said: "In Europe, all the evidence points to mobile TV being a mass market. Today scaleability is the Achilles' heel of 3G video. However, there are there are three new broadcast technologies waiting in the wings to address that."
Arqiva and O2 is expected to announce two more channels joining the scheme by next week.
Emma Somerville, head of interactive programming at the BBC, said: "We want to ensure that when our audiences want high-quality programming, no matter how, when or where they access it, the BBC will be there for them," she said.
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