T-Mobile signs Sky deal for Premier League football highlights, Lost, 24... : Tech Digest

Talk about a sucker-punch. Last week, Orange announced Frank TV, a mobile TV channel devoted to Frank Lampard (and his pets). This week, T-Mobile strikes a deal with Sky to stream 92 live Premier League matches to its customers. Job done for T-Mob.

Well, the deal is actually to launch three Sky Mobile TV packages: 'News & Sport', 'Entertainment', and 'Music'. Each package bundles in a few Sky channels including Sky One, Sky Sports News, CNN, MTV, Sky Sports 1, 2 and 3 (that's where the 92 live games come in), The Box and Paramount Comedy.

You'll pay £5 per month per pack, and T-Mobile has also signed up Sky's 24/7 Football service for Premier League and Champions League highlights. I thought Vodafone and 3 had joint exclusivity on mobile Premier League highlights, but it turns out that deal ran out at the end of last season.

Anyway, the 24/7 Football service also costs £5 a month for unlimited clips, or you'll be able to pay 50p per individual video.

I had my rant the other day about why mobile TV simulcasts are rubbish, but live football is one of the things that wavers my resolve. Not because watching live football on a phone can ever rival watching it on TV, in a pub or even with your nose pressed against a Currys shop window in the pouring rain. But because every so often, you do get caught somewhere out of range of a telly, with a match you want to watch.

I'm not so sure about the £5 a month charge though - pay-per-view would suit the above scenario more. I wonder if in the long-term, Sky might bundle mobile subscriptions in with its satellite TV packages, adding a few quid for unlimited mobile access too. Hey, they could buy the SlingBox people to make it happen...

Anyway, T-Mobile is launching the new Sky packages today, so time will tell if users rush to sign up more than they did when Sky was available on Vodafone, now live football is a bait.

Sky Mobile TV website