MediaFLO, NBC Sports tee up live video of U.S. Open for handheld users

By Andrew Lippe

MediaFLO USA is making sure golf fans never miss a shot
of the 2008 U.S. Open golf championship in San Diego this weekend as fans can watch live
action from Torrey Pines anytime on MediaFLO’s mobile TV service. ESPN and NBC Sports will ride on NBC 2Go and provide
MediaFLO with 30 hours of live coverage from the U.S. Open, beginning on
Thursday, June 12 through the final round. The FLO Service is available to
AT&T and Verizon Wireless subscribers.

“We give you the
flexibility and the freedom to catch the great shot, the great hit, the
homerun, the touchdown conveniently wherever you go,” says Mike Bailey,
MediaFLO USA, vice president of programming. “This is a live signal so this is
actually what is being aired in simulcast on NBC broadcast networks.”

The NBC 2GO channel for
the U.S. Open is a mix of sports, news and entertainment where as ESPN’s channel
for the U.S. Open is exclusively for sports content. Viewers may be a little
apprehensive of watching golf on a mobile phone as it can sometimes be hard
following a golf ball on a huge HD screen in a living room, let alone of a
two-inch mobile phone screen.

“What we have been able
to do is create a video technology that enables this crystal clear video
picture,” says Bailey. “Since we deliver over our own network as opposed to the
carrier’s voice network we really have the firehouse of bandwidth that enables
us to allocate the right amount of bandwidth dynamically to each
service.”

Since launching the FLO
service in March 2007, MediaFLO USA
has delivered close to 3,000 hours of live sports coverage. MediaFLO has been
involved with many other sporting events including delivering the March Madness
tournament on FLO. It also just recently launched Euro 2008, another channel
with ESPN for the upcoming European championships. They hope to join forces
again with NBC for its coverage of the Beijing Olympics. “We are waiting in
anticipation to see what NBC comes out with for the Olympics,” adds Bailey.