etisalat bowls over mobile tv subscribers
India-Pakistan ODIs and Test matches Streamed Live to
3G Mobile handsets & SMS users
Etisalat has tied up with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to bring 20 days of live cricket to its Mobile TV customers in the UAE. Beginning, 5th November, with the first One Day International in Guwahati, India, Etisalat Mobile TV customers will be able to watch cricket live until 12th December, the date of the last test match.
Khalifa Al Shamsi, Vice President Marketing - Consumer & SMB, Etisalat, said: “Cricket is a passion for a large number of our customers, and by bringing the excitement of the matches to our customers on their mobile phones, Etisalat is enabling them to experience the action as it happens. This is the second major cricket tournament we are broadcasting on our Mobile TV, and follows in the runaway success of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007. We extend our best wishes to the supporters of both teams, and look forward to a memorable series.”
The cricket excitement spread over five weeks will be available for AED 35 per week. Customers subscribing will need to have an active Mobile TV subscription.
To be able to watch live matches, the customer needs a 3G enabled mobile handset. Existing Mobile TV subscribers can register for this service by sending ‘CTV’ to 1110. If customers are not subscribers to Mobile TV they will first have to send ‘R MTV’ to 1010 and wait for configuration settings from Etisalat. Once the settings have been saved, the new subscriber can then send ‘CTV’ to 1110.
For Etisalat customers who do not have 3G-enabled mobile handsets, Etisalat offers the SMS Cricket news alerts service based on events during the match. Every time a wicket falls or a bowler is hit for a six, customers would get an SMS, keeping them updated on the progress of the match. To subscribe to the SMS cricket service, customers need simply to send ‘CRIC’ to 1110. The SMS service is priced at AED 10 per week.
In addition to that, customers can check the latest updates and matches’ results via SMS by simply sending ‘CR’ to 1110 for AED 0.4 per request.
To make the experience even more interesting and memorable, Etisalat is repeating all the matches on its new Live Cricket Mobile TV channel. For Day matches, the repeat will immediately follow the end of live transmission. On non-match days, the last ODI match would be repeated twice starting at 9am UAE time. Test Matches innings will be repeated same day immediately after draw of stumps. On non-match days, the five day innings will be repeated in sequence.
© 2007 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
