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Verizon V-Cast TV to broadcast college bowl games

Touchdown! ESPN, CBS and Fox have teamed up with MediaFlo USA and Verizon Wireless to bring full-length college bowl games to V-Cast Mobile this holiday season. The score: NCAA football fans will be able to watch live games from a variety of broadcast and cable networks on their mobile phones.

The games will kick off with ESPN Mobile TV's telecast of the Poinsettia Bowl Dec. 20 and wrap up with ESPN's GMAC Bowl Jan. 6, having broadcasted a total of 24 live games.

"The bowl games we will be showing are games that are licensed by CBS, Fox and ESPN," said Jeffrey Nelson, director of corporate communications for Verizon Wireless. "They are already being shown on television and we are now allowing for customers to watch them when they aren't in front of their TV sets."

V-CAST Mobile TV subscribers will have the option of viewing the games from their phones -- a significant benefit for sports fans traveling during the holidays, Mr. Nelson said.

ESPN Mobile TV, ESPN's first round-the-clock channel for the mobile platform, will provide access to games such as the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 29. Also, the Gator Bowl will be available Jan. 1 on CBS Mobile, and Fox Mobile will broadcast the Cotton Bowl Jan. 2.

"We know that programming live sports does incredibly well on V-Cast TV," Mr. Nelson said. "These bowls have great local support and will help us increase the number of subscriptions to the V-Cast TV service. The local hook is a big help."

The subscription is currently available for four V-Cast-enabled Verizon phones for a base price of $15 a month.

MediaFlo USA is responsible for the production of the advertising schedule during the mobile broadcasting of the games.

Since the launch of MediaFlo USA and V-CAST Mobile TV in March, content partners ESPN Mobile TV, CBS Mobile and Fox Mobile have aired hundreds of hours of live sporting events, from the U.S. Open golf tournament, Big XII college football, English Premier League soccer and MLS soccer to the X Games, NASCAR racing and tennis from Wimbledon.

Verizon and its content partners plan to have a larger mixture and selection for customers in 2008, Mr. Nelson said.

The carrier also works with content providers such as Comedy Central, MTV, NBC News2Go, NBC2Go and Nickelodeon.

"We are excited to offer our customers live broadcasts of games and hope that the feature will attract consumers to Verizon Wireless," Mr. Nelson said.