There are more cell phones in Jamaica than there are television sets.

While you consider that particular statement, consider also that despite the shift toward cellphones, the two devices are – for Jamaicans and many others – quite compatible culturally. In other words, most people love to watch TV almost as much as they enjoy using their mobiles.

David Casanova President DC-Digital (second from right) shown here in a file photo.

That’s a fact not lost on tech whiz David Casanova, who is in the early stages of nationally rolling out what he conceives as the  “marriage of cellie and telly” (initially in the Corporate Area).  Live Mobile TV, as the product is officially known, had its premiere recently during a media event held at the SportsMAX Sports Zone in New Kingston. During which LIME Chairman, Chris Dehring (himself somewhat newly minted in the post) guaranteed that TV on your mobile is no science fiction and with the help of Casanova’s company, DC Digital, LIME will be introducing TV on your mobile phone commercially by early December.

At launch, the CEO said, LIME is anticipating to rollout – on a paid subscriber basis – 15 premium TV and five radio channels, all digital, including local and international news, sports and entertainment channels, most of which are now only available on cable systems. To utilize this service customer will require compatible phones, such as the Nokia 5330 or the ZTE N290—two of several models that will be available from LIME to both prepaid and postpaid customers. The company is also working to deliver the service to BlackBerry and other Smartphone devices.

it means not missing an edition of the local (or overseas) nightly news or an episode of your favourite soap because you’re stuck in traffic or otherwise away from the TV; it can even mean vicariously enjoying a Stone Love dancehall session or a big live music event without ever being in the vicinity of said event.

So, what will all this mean? Well, for starters, it will mean not having to ask around for those cricket scores or who won the big game because you’re not near a TV or radio; it means not missing an edition of the local (or overseas) nightly news or an episode of your favourite soap because you’re stuck in traffic or otherwise away from the TV; it can even mean vicariously enjoying a Stone Love dancehall session or a big live music event without ever being in the vicinity of said event.

“What we are really doing,” says Casanova, a former executive at cable company JACS, “is taking the device that most people now use only for voice and text, and adding more content, and not just content, but live, real-time content, and this is not Internet, this is not download stuff – this is live TV – in top-quality stereo sound.”

And the vision calls for more than entertainment and leisure. Have a child doing GSAT or secondary level exams? The system is ready to deliver tutorials in just about any subject (a demo was played for our hearing). “Say you are at a Corporate Area high school, and you commute to St Catherine, or even Mandeville as some do, That ride to and from school which might normally be downtime, can become productive study and homework prep time, and right on the device that you are already using.”

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No less a personage than the Minister of education has already heard what DC Digital has to offer, but it may be sometime before  Live Mobile TV formally enters the classroom setting. Casanova, while saddened by the bureaucratic lag, is not bitter but pressing ahead. “The Government has spent a lot of money towards e-learning without anything substantial being achieved,” he said. “This is the real e-learning right here, but in time I guess they will catch up.”

Or does he have any ill words for LIME’s mobile service rivals Digicel, who have made heavy weather throughout the media about their new 4G Internet product. “We here are not knocking Digicel, but I say 4G is merely a faster way to access the Internet. What we are about is utilizing the capability and the penetration of cellphones to deliver content to persons without the intervention of Internet or cable – that’s something totally different, and we believe that LIME, particularly with a Chris Dehring at the helm, is the right company for us to be partnered with to deliver that vision.”

Indeed, “that vision” as he refers to it, is intended to be replicated throughout LIME’s still considerable operations through the English-speaking Caribbean. “This is nothing short of a revolution,” Casanova declares, adding that the partnership is actively seeking content providers to add to the existing stock. “Imagine an artiste like Bounty Killer, who I was with recently, holding a performance and thousands of Killer fans around the island viewing the show live – at a fee – without leaving from where they may be to catch that show, and not being tied to either a TV set or a computer.”

“This technology is hardly even in the US at present. That’s what we’re about – developing Jamaican capability and providing an enhanced service to Jamaicans on the device that they are already most comfortable with.”

Same thing, he says, for Reggae Boyz games. “The stadium only holds 35,000. Suppose you could have a ‘gate’ of double or even triple that number, around the island and even around the region, watching that game – all already paid, with the appropriate percentage going directly to JFF – would there be any money issue today? I don’t think so”

All of this being achieved, he proudly points out, with indigenous manpower and talent (albeit with some serious imported hardware). “Everything you use and hear, and all the field research and testing was developed with Jamaican know-how,” he says. “This technology is hardly even in the US at present. That’s what we’re about – developing Jamaican capability and providing an enhanced service to Jamaicans on the device that they are already most comfortable with.”

So next time your mobile party doesn’t answer, it could well be that they’re engrossed in a TV show.