Mobile TV is a recent and impressive offering by Verizon Wireless. The name itself is the perfect description: Mobile TV is TV streamed to a mobile device. Yes, it’s TV, including primetime as well as popular cable channels. Yes, the video and audio quality is very good.

Yes, I like it.

My demo of Mobile TV was on an LG Voyager:

The Voyager is a great device for Mobile TV, allowing you stereo audio and a fairly large display. I was able to use the device while it was open or closed (making it a little safer to hand to my three-year-old daughter!)

As I said, the audio and video quality was very good. I have fairly poor reception in my house, too, usually only getting one to three bars. (For the record, this is not due to my location, but my house’s construction, since immediately outside my house the reception is fine. When you step inside, reception is low on every cellular network I’ve tried.)

Does Mobile TV work with low signal strength?

I also tried to cover up the Voyager’s antenna, trying to degrade my signal further. This was my experiment to see how Mobile TV works with a very poor signal. And it did continue to work. I found that the Verizon engineers give priority to the audio stream. If the signal degrades enough to affect performance, the video gets a little choppy and the sound stays clear. This of course is much better, since the brain can translate audio loss better than video loss.

For detail on Mobile TV performance, a Verizon rep was able to give me more information on this aspect. She said:

"Mobile TV runs off a completely separate network, which is operated by MediaFLO USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated. Because MediaFLO USA operates a dedicated multicast network that delivers programming in a linear format, Verizon Wireless can offer customers the latest in mobile entertainment without impacting its voice and data services. Therefore, your Verizon Wireless signal strength has little to do with the reception of Mobile TV."

Mobile TV channel list

As you watch Mobile TV, you can flip through the channels, just like on a regular TV, just like what you see in the pictures above. As you change the channel, you’ll get a text preview of what that channel is. If you leave the selector on that channel, the video and audio play the new channel within a second or so.

Another option is to use the Channel Guide, you see this, a text view of current and upcoming shows:

So whatever your preference – channel surfing or browsing a lineup – it’s easy to find and watch what you’re looking for.

As of this writing, here are the current channels I had available on my phone's Mobile TV service:

FLO	CBS	FOX	NBC
MSNBC	COMDY	ESPN	MTV
NICK	CNBC	FNC	Tr3s
ESPN / ESPNr	FUEL	ANGEL	FOOD

There are two different service plans for Mobile TV – Select and Basic. Both plans include the full channel lineup. The difference is that Select includes the “V CAST V Pack”, which includes unlimited basic video clips, access to Mobile Web with unlimited megabytes. Finally, Mobile TV customers will have a feast of home and cooking programs in time for the holiday season -- and upcoming college football bowl games. The special programming at the time of this writing will extend through Feb. 3, 2009. New channels will also be added in the future. Click for the official list of Mobile TV channels and a list of compatible devices.

Conclusion

Verizon’s Mobile TV is a solid offering. It has plenty of channel selections whose number will only increase over time. Plenty of popular programming is offered, and though it’s not a replacement for the wall-mounted flatscreen TV, it’s not intended to be one. It’s a convenient way of watching TV wherever your phone – and you - happen to be.