ROK Entertainment Group U.S. has followed in the footsteps of its UK-based parent and launched a free mobile TV service available globally. FreeBe TV, the U.S. market's first free mainstream mobile TV service, currently offers 13 channels of content, including live news, music and sports, with many more slated in the near future. Available at www.freebetv.com or from a link off of www.roktv.com, FreeBe TV is carrier agnostic and can be accessed from 21 mobile phones with WAP-enabled capabilities.

Users of FreeBe TV don't have to be on a high-speed, 3G network as the service was developed to deliver high quality video content over 2.5G GPRS.

In addition to the mobile version of FreeBe TV, ROK announced today that the same service will soon be available for the PC, via the Internet, as well. FreeBe Internet TV will deliver the same streaming channels as the mobile TV service over broadband.

For both mobile and Internet TV, the ROK content is completely free with no subscription charges of any kind.

Although subscription free, FreeBe TV is principally aimed at people with 'all you can eat' GPRS data packages include in their mobile service.

The FreeBe TV service includes an extreme sports channel, a vintage comedy channel, classic cartoons and classic movies channels and live news, updated every 15 minutes, read by computer-animated monkeys. Two new channels being added in the coming weeks include Mixcast TV, a global hip-hop and urban lifestyle channel and MavTV, an irreverent network targeting men 18-60 delivering selected promotional content.

Additionally, ROK has created the first user-generated content channel called 'YOU-MADE-IT.' Tapping into the increasing demand for user generated content, ROK is encouraging viewers of its TV services to send their own content into the channel, with a selection of the received content -- which it anticipates will range from short movies, comedy clips, music videos and home-made animations and cartoons -- to be included on the channel, which will stream on the new mobile TV service.

"This is mass-market 2.5G rather than niche 3G and it's free, which dramatically increases access to mobile TV and massively reduces barriers to adoption. Only through aggressive and innovative services such as FreeBe TV can we ensure mobile TV services achieve the critical mass required for mass adoption and long-term durability. Taking a mass market product to a mass market audience via a mass market mobile technology (2.5G) is the best way for the mobile TV industry to grow," comments ROK's Jonathan Kendrick.

"Of course having launched free mobile TV in the UK we have already generated a significant audience, and when we grow audiences, we're obviously getting into the realms of advertising-supported channels," Kendrick concludes.