TV Makes a Big Move
To the Small Screen

New Pact Will Allow Viewers
To See Live Shows on Phones;

Setting Your DVR Remotely

The migration of TV shows to the small screen is taking its biggest step yet.

The nation's largest cable companies, together with Sprint Nextel Corp., are introducing a cellphone service that will offer subscribers a broader array of TV options than any other service.

A new service will let cellphone users watch TV and program home DVRs.

While other wireless companies, such as Verizon Wireless, already offer cellphone-TV and -Internet services, the latest offerings promise to be richer. Subscribers won't have to pick from a menu of prerecorded shows but can watch live TV shows as they are aired, as well as programs they've recorded on their digital video recorders at home. And if they miss their favorite show, they'll be able to program their digital video recorder by clicking a few buttons on their cellphone.

The new service, which will become available in the first six months of next year, will also enable subscribers to interact with their home computers and TVs on their cellphones.

The move comes just three weeks after Apple Computer Inc. introduced a new iPod media player that allows users to download TV shows, movies and other video content off the Internet. While some still scoff at the notion that consumers will want to watch videos on such small screen, initial reaction to the services has been positive. Apple already has sold more than a million videos through its iTunes Music Store. Millions of Sprint customers have used that company's so-called MobiTV service, which includes live TV, news clips and other services.

Verizon's Vcast can download games and hundreds of videos. Costs $15 a month.

To get the new service, people will need to be served by one of the participating cable companies and to become subscribers to Sprint's wireless service. They'll also need cellphones that can operate at broadband-like speeds. Sprint recently began making some models available for between $230 and $250, including a rebate.

The cable companies include Comcast Corp., Time Warner Inc.'s cable division, Cox Communications Inc. and Advance/Newhouse Communications. Together they serve about 41 million households. Other cable companies may join the group later. Sprint and the cable operators promised to commit $200 million initially to the venture, which has a 20-year term. No other cellphone providers will be able to offer the service with these cable companies for three years.

While the service initially will focus mainly on letting customers use their cellphones to watch TV, download music, interact with home digital video recorders and check voice-mail messages on their home phones, new features will be added later. Gary Forsee, chief executive of Sprint, predicted that a phone that doubles as both a cellphone outside and a wired phone at home will be available in late 2006 or early 2007.

The Sprint/Cable Phone can watch live TV, download music and access stored content on a home digital video recorder. Handsets cost $230 to $250 including rebate.

Other cellphone companies currently offer some live TV. Sprint itself has deals with a variety of networks including Fox Sports, ABC News Now, The Learning Channel and Discovery. But the program lineup offered by the cable venture is expected to be much richer, with the cable companies aiming to offer live programming from dozens of channels. The cable operators still have to make deals with programmers to route their shows to cellphones. But they are well positioned to do this since they're continually negotiating with these same programmers on standard cable deals. Also, both Comcast and Time Warner own numerous cable networks and will likely make some of this content available to the cellphone service.

For consumers, the cable alliance with Sprint also means more choice in places to get cellphone service. Starting next year, consumers will be able to get Sprint cellphone service from their cable companies, along with TV, land-line phone service and high-speed Internet connections. Cable and phone companies have been racing to offer households as many telecommunications services as possible on the belief that consumers are more likely to stay loyal if they buy packaged services that all show up on one bill.

Cable and Sprint executives said that each cable system would decide how to package the new cellphone with other services. They said it was too early to speculate what the service would cost. But comparable services offered by other wireless companies go for an extra fee of about $15 a month.

Apple's new iPod can download video files off the Internet. Models start at $299.

Cable-company executives believe TV on a small screen will develop into a medium that's different from traditional television. Cellphone TVs will never replace the feel of watching a football game or a movie on a big-screen TV and probably won't be used for extended viewing. But experts predict they will become increasingly popular for watching news clips, music videos and parts of programs specially designed for the small-screen format.

"We call them snippets," said Brian Roberts, Comcast's chief executive. He suggested a snippet might be just David Letterman's "Top 10" list from the previous night or the last inning of a baseball game. "What we're doing today is enabling that next generation of content," he said.

Cable and Sprint executives said their venture could develop other types of wireless services. For example, using wireless radio spectrum owned by Sprint, the cable operators may offer a wireless service to their high-speed Internet subscribers so they could keep receiving the service on the road.

Executives at other wireless companies played down the Sprint deal with the cable companies. Clay Owen, a spokesman for Cingular Wireless, said Cingular already offers some of the features the cable companies will offer and is developing others. With its 52 million customers, Cingular will be able to move much faster than the cable competition, he said. "We feel they're chasing us," he said.

But cable executives said they can offer more cellphone services than telephone companies because they are already providing phone, TV and high-speed Internet on their networks, while most phone companies are providing only phone and broadband. As phone companies begin to offer TV, cable executives said they plan to stay a step ahead.

Write to Peter Grant at peter.grant@wsj.com