Mobile TV in America is facing another setback. Crown Castle International has posted on its Web site yesterday that the spectrum used for Modeo will be leased to two private equity firms for $13 million a year. The tower operator has pulled the plug on Modeo, the mobile TV service based on the DVB-H standard. Crown Castle will lease the U.S. nationwide 1670-1675 MHz spectrum it used for Modeo to a venture formed by Telcom Ventures, LLC and Columbia Capital, LCC, beginning yesterday (July 23, 2007) until October 1, 2013. At the end of this lease the two private equity firms will further have the option of acquiring the spectrum outright, or renewing the lease for a period of up to another 10 years.
Modeo was one of three mobile TV efforts to bring TV to mobile phones. And now there were two.