Blackberry TV - bbTV Reviewed

Watch television on you Blackberry!  As part of a cool Trend Hunter exclusive, I’ve had the chance to review bbTV (Blackberry Television) on my Blackberry 8700!  The service, provided by Canada.com and Rogers Wireless, is the world’s first television broadcasting on a Blackberry.  bbTV lets you browse the latest headline tv with daily clips in World News, Sports, and Finance.  The bbTV clips are launched immediately after the episodes are aired, so you won’t miss a beat.

On the upside, it’s pretty cool to watch TV on your handheld.  The episodes stream at 12-15 frames per second and the sound is very clear.  Finally, it’s a deal at $5 per month, which is pretty much free relative to the cost of a good data plan.

On the downside, you can’t yet use your headset.  Allegedly, an update will take care of that but it is not developed yet.  Also, it takes about 1-2 minutes to download an episode.  You can use your Blackberry in different ways while it updates, but I don’t like waiting.

Currently, the service is currently only available to Canadian subscribers.  However, it will be opened up throughout North America very soon (with more shows on the way).  Why is it all starting in Canada?  Blackberry is a Canadian company and its partner, Rogers telecom, is the largest Cable TV company in Canada. In other words, bbTV is a pretty nice fit.

More About bbTV:
Now you can take the show on the road with bbTV™, brought to you by CanWest Media Works Publications, Canada’s largest and most innovative media companies and Rogers Wireless. 

- What is bbTV? It is a videoplayer designed to play multimedia files exclusively on the latest generation of BlackBerry® devices. It has the ability to receive and play high quality synchronized video and audio files.

- Easy and simple Over-the-Air (OTA) installation method gives users the flexibility to quickly download the application with ease and speed.

- Standard media controls (play, pause, rewind, stop etc.) means the operation and functionality is familiar.

- Display of media description information (title, description, duration, genre, etc.) allows for convenient navigation while viewing files.

- Offline Viewing - With the ability to store and manage multiple clips, you can view files and listen to audio when not connected.