Nothing says international travel like National Geographic.

Without question, the recent announcement from the venerable brand is likely a welcome development for cosmopolitan country-hoppers.

National Geographic is rolling out what has been dubbed “the National Geographic Duet Travel Phone,” which is designed specifically for “the needs of the international traveler.”

According to the announcement, the new handset supports two SIM cards and offers additional features useful for travelers: Bluetooth, a camera, FM radio, television and 1GB storage card.

As expected, the Duet comes packed with National Geographic content like ringtones, wallpapers and travel-related videos from the National Geographic Channel.

In case you were wondering, the Duet also includes National Geographic’s pay-as-you-go National Geographic Travel SIM card, allowing affordable calling in 185 countries, free incoming calls in more than 80 countries and 30 minutes of outgoing call credit (for most countries). Users have the option of inserting another SIM card in the phone and having a secondary number and service.

There’s no question that the Duet is cool and convenient. But will a National Geographic product catch on with most young travelers who don’t equate National Geographic with much of anything considered “cool”?

Only time will tell.

For now, the National Geographic Travel Phone is available online through CellularAbroad.com, Amazon.com, Expansys-usa.com and other select retailers.

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On Friday, FLO TV will debut on the small screen.

But it’s a small screen that’s bigger than the smaller screen they’re famous for.

This Friday, Qualcomm’s mobile broadcast subsidiary FLO TV will expand its service nationally.

It’s a move that’s been in the making for quite some time, one that comes hand in hand with
DTV transition, which provides the the broadband spectrum vital for the FLO mobile TV network.

As it stands, FLO TV will reach 39 new domestic markets with a potential audience of 200 million everywhere from Boston to San Francisco.

And that’s just the beginning.

By the end of this year, FLO TV is expected to see the light of day in at least one hundred markets.

As you may recall, FLO TV had no choice but to postpone its national debut after federal lawmakers delayed the switch to DTV from Feb. 17 to June 12.

The big moment is finally upon us.

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AT&T U-verse customers are in luck.

That is, if they are fans of Wallace and Gromit.

If so, they will be the first to find the latest comedic endeavors of the dynamic duo.

AT&T and Aardman Animations have partnered to reveal that AT&T U-verse TV will “exclusively feature the premiere of the new Wallace and Gromit short film, A Matter of Loaf and Death.”

The debut is set at June 5th for all U-verse TV customers and will be available at no charge in the U-verse TV On Demand library.

Starting Monday, clips of the beloved cheese lover and his canine friend will also be available on AT&T wireless devices through CV-Video. Read the rest

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In an effort to extend further into big ticket live sporting events, mobile TV service Qualcomm’s Flo TV is taking one giant step this week with a new deal in partnership with NBC Universal for a series of major events.

Events now covered will include The Preakness Stakes, the French Open, the Stanley Cup Final, the U.S. Open and Wimbledon.

Proving the increasing competitiveness of the genre, Flo TV competitor MobiTV has a deal with CBS for the NCAA, in which March Madness championship basketball is aired every March.

As it stands, by now Flo TV has already aired thousands of hours of college basketball and football, professional basketball and baseball, golf, soccer, boxing, auto racing, and hockey. Included among these events are big-ticket broadcasts, like the U.S. Open golf championship, for which it said viewership climbed 80% over its usual viewing average.

Currently, MobiTV has 6 million subscribers. Flo TV does not release subscriber numbers. Nonetheless, it’s available to AT&T subscribers and Verizon Wireless customers in 68 markets nationwide.

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At the Future Of Television West conference in Hollywood this week, there wasn’t nearly as much discussion about mobile video as I’d hoped. Maybe that’s because traditional stalwarts are finding it hard enough dealing with online distribution. If video on the Internet seems new and scary, then they probably can’t even wrap their heads around mobile TV.

But even when very few European explorers had visited the Americas or Africa, there still were pioneers who had. In the same vein, those few who are embracing mobile already have a game plan and a business model.

Below are excerpts and summaries of discussions on how to monetize mobile video and mobile TV. You’ll find what best generates revenue, why the handset matters more than the carrier, and what made me think that mobile video and LBS (location-based services) could make a great team.

Read the rest

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Marketers need to get into digital video, if only to beat their competitors. “People are creating and sharing content way more than in the past,” said Ned Sherman, CEO and publisher of Digital Media Wire, as he kicked off the Future of Television West conference Tuesday in Hollywood, California.

Mobile video and mobile TV are still new territory. As networks post episodes of popular shows, they are still trying to find out the best way to monetize digital video that’s online, on the phone, or anywhere else. At the same time, it’s already possible use phones to get viewers engaged, and to bring the hottest type of content to the handset. Even 3D movies! Read the rest

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MobiTV, the lone mobile television provider in business since 1999, announced that its subscriber-base has reached 6 million on very strong recent growth.  In Barcelona, the company also announced some changes to the way it will deliver mobile programming, and the fact that it’s being used on 20 major carriers worldwide these days.

MobiTV’s service was originally based on “unicast” technology, which meant that each subscriber received a unique signal with his or her chosen programming.  While unicasting provides high-value mobile advertising opportunities, that method can be expensive and unwieldy.  Instead, the service will move to a new “optimized delivery server,” a hybrid model that combines unicasting and multicasting depending on how many subscribers in the same area are watching the same show. 

The new delivery method should strengthen the quality of programming, but will take away from the effectiveness and “direct-targeting” of the advertising that has monetized the service and kept the company running for so long.  Undoubtedly, the company will come up with new strategies, but advertising isn’t the only thing MobiTV should be worried about.

With the upcoming digital transition that’s taking place, MobiTV will most likely have to completely re-think its strategy.  First of all, no subscriber will pay the $10 monthly fee to watch select mobile programming, when most local and national channels will be broadcasting in full glory with no fees.  Also, advertisers will go directly to the source instead of dealing services like MobiTV, who are really just mobile television “middlemen.”

We’ll have to see how MobiTV reacts to the digital switch, and whether or not it has what it takes to survive.  Either way, they’ve got a while before mobile television becomes so prolific that it gives MobiTV something to really worry about.

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