An adult industry first, XTCMobile will be offered for next-generation wireless phones. It will be broadcast at six or seven frames per second, a speed that is substantially slower than traditional TV broadcasts.
James “JChris” Morrison of Mobile Media told XBiz that the rollout was intended to take place in January but the age verification checks and balances weren’t quite ready. In addition to requiring a phone call and a credit-card number, the phone-based software that launches the service is protected by a personal identification number.
Henderson, Nev.-based Mobile Media in the last week sold XTCMobile to Las Vegas-based VTX Inc. and is getting out of the adult entertainment business with plans to offer more mainstream entertainment, including mobile gambling services.
The acquisition by VTX is a natural fit, since the company has been running its own adult entertainment service on wireless phones for 16 months. VTX has been selling its PocketJoy service for more than a year. PocketJoy offers downloadable adult pictures.
VTX said XTCMobile initially would broadcast three adult channels to Internet-ready wireless phones offering both video and audio.
Mobile Media gave the service a beta testing in the first two months of the year, offering adult video on the Sprint PCS network. Like the Internet, Sprint's open-architecture system allows companies not affiliated with Sprint to offer services on the company's network.
Sprint became the first telecom in the nation to offer TV broadcasts through MobiTV, a service offered by Berkeley, Calif.-based Idetic Inc, which offers 14 mainstream channels ranging from ABC News to CNET to CNBC.
MobiTV currently offers only about one frame per second, but plans are underway to increase video quality this year when new phone technology will allow 15 frames per second, which is nearly half the quality of commercial TV broadcasts.
With the $7.99-a-month service, XTCMobile plans to use adult video content from Los Angeles-based Wicked Pictures.