Vodafone lets customers watch World Cup football via mobile site

Vodafone will allow its customers to watch the World Cup via a mobile site in the coming weeks. For that, the provider gives customers a month of free Mobile TV service, which it has tested in recent years. After that, the service costs 7.95 euros per month.

The service can be viewed via mobiletv.vodafone.nl and not via an app, says the provider, who announced the service on Friday. The provider was not available on Friday morning for additional questions about the TV service.

Customers can watch six channels: Nederland 1, 2 and 3, CNN, National Geographic and 24Kitchen. It is unknown why channels from, among others, RTL and SBS are not included in the package, but Vodafone has probably not finalized those deals. Whether those channels will be added later is unknown.

It is unclear which technology Vodafone uses; the appropriate technology for this is lte broadcast, but it could also be that the provider simply sends the streams over the network via 4g. The data that customers use with the service is not deducted from the data bundle. The streams also work via 3g, the provider says.

Update, 11:27: Vodafone announces that Mobile TV works via regular 3g and 4g networks and not via lte broadcast. The provider does not make apps and has opted for a mobile site to allow as many customers as possible to use the service at once, without the need for a specific mobile platform.