Fox News offers audio feed on cell phones

Yahoo News ^ | 1/19/2006

[piperpilot]

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Fox News has rolled out a new service that will let anyone with a cell phone access an audio feed of the cable channel.

The live feed will be available 24/7 by dialing "#FOXN" on a mobile phone. The service, which will start with Cingular, costs $2.99 a month plus applicable per-minute airtime charges.

Fox News has partnered with Single Touch Interactive, an Encinitas, Calif., company that has existing deals with BET and Univision. But Fox News will be the first news channel to have a Single Touch audio stream, said Jeremy Steinberg, vp digital media sales and business development.

It's far from the first mobile deal for Fox News. There is a special mobile Internet site that allows cell and BlackBerry users to access a quick-loading site. The channel has been available for more than a year as a live video stream on Sprint, with almost a million subscribers. Cingular also offers video clips. But with the Single Touch Interactive technology, the audio stream -- news and its daily primetime lineup including "The O'Reilly Factor" -- will be available to people without the expensive video cell phones.

[piperpilot]

I don't know if I would pay $2.99/month for this because I have XM satellite radio and can listen to the live FNC feed on that, but for those news junkies that just can't live without their fix, it's a relatively inexpensive option. Plus, it's better than having to pay $2.99/month for CNN.

[iowamark]

Jack Bauer catching The Factor

[piperpilot]

Now THAT'S a good one!

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

Is there a way to stream it (TV channel) on a computer, like a radio station?

[piperpilot]

Unfortunately, no.

[July 4th]

Is there a way to stream it (TV channel) on a computer, like a radio station?

Yes, if you do it yourself with a Slingbox.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

Slingbox.

can you learn me?

[July 4th]

can you learn me?

You need to buy a Slingbox and connect it up to a broadband connection and some video output device (TiVo, cable box), or you can get the model that takes a cable line directly. The Slingbox processes and serves your TV feed out over the internet through your broadband line, so you can log onto it on the road, at work, etc.

It may not be a good solution for work since streaming video is sort of a bandwidth hog - I'm not sure if there's an option to limit the feed to audio yet.

Here's a good summary of the tech: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/slingbox.htm/printable

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

I'll follow the link. Thanks.

[SeaBiscuit]

Hmmmm...these days much of the news is unreliable, and often needs sifting through the layers of media, blogs and then finally FR before it's worth reading... so I guess this is good for those who need instant on the run chaos, fright and general baloney.

[outfield]

Very true. I haven't gotten around to getting satellite radio yet so this is something I may look into. Given that Fox News is the only balanced source out there, this would be nice for traveling and other down times away from a TV.

Did anyone catch the O'Reilly and Stephen Colbert joint appearances last night, Bill was pretty funny.

[hardknocks]

Yeah, not a bad deal. $3 is less than I pay for the current internet access I have on my cell, and I mostly use that to access news anyway.

[nutmeg]

FoxFan ping!

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[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!