Verizon offers Super Bowl streaming live on smartphones

For the first time, the Super Bowl will be available not only on TV, but also on your phone. That is, if you have a Verizon phone, and it's powerful enough to run live streaming video. The carrier was given the honors after scoring points as a valuable partner of MobiTV, the company that will be powering the live transmission. The game will be transcoded to bit rates ranging from 22 Kilobits per second to 1.2 Megabits per second. This first-of-its-kind stream only applies to Verizon phones, not tablets.

Verizon isn't the only company making Super Bowl-watching history this year. NBC, the exclusive telecaster of the big game, will allow users to watch the match on NBCSports.com. It will also be streamed live on NFL.com. For those who want to watch the game on-the-go, you'll need to download the Verizon Wireless NFL Mobile app, which is available on both the Android Market and the Apple App Store. Customers with a 4G phone get to watch the game for free, but those with a 3G handset must pay $3 on the day of the big game.

MobiTV was beginning to make inroads in the niche market of streaming video to feature phones, but before it could really take off it ended up becoming obsolete in the world of smartphones and apps. The company now works in the enterprise space, striking deals with cable providers and technology companies to offer seamless video integration services. Its name is largely unknown to the general consumer.

[via Multichannel News]