Real, Cingular Sign Streaming TV Deal

RealNetworks on Wednesday unveiled Helix OnlineTV, an application designed to bring interactive television to mobile phones and PCs. Also, in a big win for the company over competitor Microsoft, Real announced Cingular would use the technology for an upcoming video service.

Cingular's choice of Real video indicates that the streaming media company is alive and well, and still looking to directly compete with the market-leading Microsoft -- a spot it once occupied. Verizon uses Windows Media technologies to serve video on its next-generation EV-DO network.

The Helix OnlineTV service would be delivered over Cingular's 3G UMTS/HSDPA network that is expected to begin rolling out in 20 major metropolitan markets later this year. The company says that this is only one of several services Cingular will offer when the high-speed technology arrives.

Application development, hosting of the service, and delivery of content will all be handled by Real. The streaming video would be in Real Video or 3GPP format. Real says the application could also operate across 2.5G networks, such as EDGE.

"RealNetworks' expertise in streaming audio and video, along with the flexibility of their Helix OnlineTV platform will help enable Cingular to give our customers the fastest access possible to the audio and video content they care most about," Jim Ryan, president of data services for Cingular, said in a statement.