Consumers will be able to stream commercial-free episodes of "The Office," "Heroes," "Monk," and "Battlestar Galactica" on their mobile phones for a $1.99 fee for a 24-hour viewing period, although the final rates will be determined by participating cellular carriers. At this time, the companies have not announced any carriers to distribute the shows.

In addition to its primetime video-on-demand lineup, the two companies will offer select short-form programming from Bravo, SCI FI Channel, USA Network, Telemundo, and mun2 on five new ad-supported channels to subscribers, which will debut on the MobiTV service later this year.

Mobile Multimedia Hub

Industry experts say the deal represents the transformation of the phone as a communication device to a multimedia hub.

"Making calls is just one thing you can do with these devices," said Jeff Kagan, an analyst who has been monitoring the telecom industry for the past 20 years. "It started with pictures, then movies, then television. You're going to be able to do more and more."

The device, he explained, changes on a seemingly day-to-day basis. "Now it's all these different things -- a video player, a calendar, a way to share YouTube. It keeps exploding. We don't know what's coming next week, and that's very exciting."

Taking It To Go

What's certain is that multimedia content via mobile devices is growing more popular. Apple's iPod video player already shows full-length TV programs in a downloadable format, and its iPhone -- slated to hit shelves in June -- combines the iPod video capability with a cellular connection. Last month, Verizon launched its own live mobile video service in a handful of markets.

Kagan said it's too early to guess which platform will take the lead. "No one knows which services are going to win, and which will lose," he said. "This is the fun time when we roll out all of those technologies. It's brand new. Most people have never seen television on a phone before."

But Kagan said that TV on mobile phones won't be for everyone. Most likely, the technology will appeal to travelers and commuters -- those who have time to kill.

TV on mobile phones is a technology still in its infancy, Kagan concluded. "We'll go through many models. We have to figure out which one works. We just aren't there yet."