Verizon recently signed up Adobe as the first carrier to feature Adobe's new FlashCast platform. This will enable Verizon to set up "always on" channels for news, weather, and sports, as opposed to the standalone video clips that permeate their current service.

It's yet another permutation of "mobile TV," except that FlashCast actually has a shot of improving the experience, at least in terms of reducing wait times. We all know how smoothly YouTube works - you never have to wonder if a clip will play properly - and YouTube is Flash-based. It would be great to see this level of playback reliability on mobile phones.

No word yet on the exact nature of the new channels, or which phones will support it.

Verizon to get Adobe's Flashcast in second half of 2007 [Engadget Mobile]