But the MediaFLO sale does point up a more provocative question: Does Qualcomm have trouble launching new businesses?
FORBES: Is Qualcomm's FLO TV Sale A Sign It Can't Develop Its Own Businesses?
That could translate into more TV channels on MediaFLO, as well as more diverse video, audio and data services.
The company is a registered bidder and already owns similar spectrum that it uses for its mobile TV network, mediaFLO.
Other winners include Qualcomm, which won bits and pieces of the B and E Blocks -- more MediaFLO spectrum, perhaps?
ENGADGET: FCC releases 700MHz auction details, Verizon, AT&T big winners
As my editor, Eric Savitz, reported, the deal followed public remarks that Qualcomm was re-evaluating this service, known as MediaFLO or FLO TV.
FORBES: Is Qualcomm's FLO TV Sale A Sign It Can't Develop Its Own Businesses?
Unlike MediaFLO, it's completely free for users -- and that might be just the kick in the pants mobile TV needs to take hold.
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The network, which will be constructed by subsidiary MediaFLO USA , will ultimately broadcast between 50 and 100 channels, including 15 live streaming stations.
Licenses in the "E block" of spectrum, clustered around metropolitan areas like Boston and San Francisco, will be used to expand its mobile TV service, MediaFLO.
By building their own multimedia network, Qualcomm hopes that the carriers will skip the expense of building up their own infrastructure, and will instead pay for access to MediaFLO's network.
MediaFLO will negotiate deals with media companies to deliver their content, and will sell the service directly to cellular operators, who will share the network and resell TV service to their mobile customers.
Qualcomm (nasdaq: QCOM - news - people ), which develops chips and other wireless technology, owns a slice of 700 Mhz spectrum, which it uses for its mobile TV application, mediaFLO.
Verizon Wireless --a joint venture of Verizon Communications (nyse: VZ - news - people ) and Vodafone Group (nyse: VOD - news - people ) is looking at the MediaFLO service, according to a spokesman.
We can only assume that Rogers will be launching the CU915 variant (or TU915, as it'll probably come to be known to them) since the carrier doesn't feature a MediaFLO network that would warrant the need for the CU920's additional hardware and expense.
Then there is the antenna needed for Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi if it is built in, and one for the GPS receiver, and if you have mobile TV capabilities built in there will be another antenna to receive, say the MediaFLO TV signals on 700 MHz.
Like many cellular technologies, mobile TV standards differ by region, forming an alphabet soup of acronyms: wireless technology company Qualcomm 's MediaFLO in the U.S., DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting for Handhelds) in Europe, T-DMB (Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcast) in Korea, and ISDB-T (Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting - Terrestrial) in Japan and Brazil.
Like many cellular technologies, mobile TV standards differ by region, forming an alphabet soup of acronyms: wireless technology company Qualcomm 's (nasdaq: QCOM - news - people ) MediaFLO in the U.S., DVB-H (Digital Video Broadcasting for Handhelds) in Europe, T-DMB (Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcast) in Korea, and ISDB-T (Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting - Terrestrial) in Japan and Brazil.
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