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MobiTV, Inc. (formerly named Idetic, Inc.) is a global television and digital radio service provider for mobile phone users. The MobiTV service is available in the US through Sprint, AT&T Mobility, Alltel and several regional carriers; and in Canada through Bell Canada, Rogers and TELUS Mobility. The company claims more than seven million subscribers and offers many popular TV channels from content providers such as MSNBC, ABC News Now, CNN, Fox News, Fox Sports, ESPN Mobile TV, NBC Mobile, CNBC, CSPAN, Discovery Channel, TLC, The Weather Channel and others that deliver cartoons, music videos and comedy. In 2005, the company won an Emmy award for "Outstanding Achievement in Engineering Development" from Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Founded in 1999, MobiTV is a privately held, venture-backed company headquartered in Emeryville, CA. It is backed by Menlo Ventures, Oak Investment Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Gefinor Ventures and Sorrento Ventures.
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[edit] Unsecure Sprint TV Xtra Feeds ControversyOn February 23, 2008, a member of HowardForums obtained the means elsewhere to gain access to MobiTV streaming video feeds without any paid subscription.[3] It was done by obtaining an XML file at a publicly accessible URL. This file contained the RTSP links to different unsecure program feeds including MSNBC, Bloomberg TV, Discovery Channel, etc, which were offered in the Sprint TV Xtra subscription. With internet connection and compatible media playback applications like RealPlayer or Apple Inc. QuickTime Player, these unsecure 38kbit/s streaming video feeds could be watched on many cellphones and computers. MobiTV's legal counsel issued a letter dated March 4, 2008, demanding Howard Chui, owner of HowardForums, to remove the displayed links to the proprietary file because MobiTV's intellectual property rights had been violated according to the DMCA.[4] In the letter, MobiTV's legal counsel also suggested that they have been contacting HowardForums' site host and registrar regarding this matter. They would pursue legal actions if Chui did not comply. Chui denied any wrongdoing on behalf of the HowardForums members. He argued that the situation was like a movie theater with see through walls. Anyone in the public that walked by could see what was going on, even if it was not necessarily what the theater wanted. He refused to comply with MobiTV's demand. He also made an announcement at HowardForums on March 6, 2008 regarding this matter as well as a possible outage if MobiTV's legal actions escalated.[5] Backlash as a result of this matter was severe. Many HowardForums members have engaged in discussion on this matter, rallying support and spreading the news. Several popular tech news sites, blogs and the Associated Press picked up the story.[6][7][8][9] On March 7, 2008, Howard Chui posted a response from MobiTV at HowardForums. Paul Scanlan, president and co-founder of MobiTV, indicated that MobiTV's intention has never been to shut down HowardForums entirely or to impose censorship on the Internet. Scanlan also acknowledged the importance of ensuring the security of MobiTV as a priority and responsibility to their content and carrier partners.[10] On March 7 a Wikipedia administrator listed the subdomains used in the disputed links (qtv.mobitv.com and live.mobitv.com, but not www.mobitv.com) on the "MediaWiki:Spam-blacklist", preventing direct linking of the disputed URLs.[11] [edit] References
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