Less than 10 months after launching its mobile broadcast video service in Europe, Virgin has pulled the plug, and will switch off the service early next year. BT Movio, the bandwidth provider, is canceling its contract with frequency owner GCap Media. A number of setbacks plagued the efforts, including that fact that only one handset – the Lobster 700TV – was equipped to receive the service. Sales were light, despite a massive promotional effort.

But the bigger reason was that BT Movio’s service is based on the DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcast) and utilizes the DAB Network, while the European Union has opted to endorse DVB-H for the de facto mobile broadcast technology. Virgin has said it will run the service until the end of January 2008. So long, we hardly knew you.

[Via The Register]