Phone in for tiny TV

A deal between Telecom and TV networks will put popular shows on cellphones. Photo / Kenny Rodger

Free-to-air favourites such as Outrageous Fortune and Family Guy are among shows coming to a really small screen near you.

An agreement between Telecom, Television NZ and MediaWorks - owner of TV3 and C4 - means workers can relieve the monotony of their daily commute by watching television shows and entertainment on their mobile phones.

Programmes available range from police drama The Mentalist to children's favourite The Wiggles.

Episodes are streamed, rather than downloaded, to phones and are broken into chapters to enable easy fast-forwarding, rewinding or skipping to the end of shows.

The service - available on Telecom's new XT network - will compete with a Vodafone and Sky TV agreement in force since 2006.

An international content provider is expected to be added to the service.

The Telecom service will be free until November.

After that, customers will be able to opt for a weekly or monthly subscription or a pay-per-view service, although Telecom has yet to reveal pricing details.

Vodafone has been offering its service - which includes the R18+ Playboy channel - for $2.50 a week.

Neither of the services affects mobile data allowances.

Rosalie Nelson of telecommunications research firm IDC said that when mobile television was introduced in Europe, telecommunications providers saw it as a new source of revenue.

But instead, it encouraged people to buy and use more data "rather than getting wedded to using TV on their handset".

Live sports had proved popular, but watching television on a small mobile screen could be challenging.

ON THE REALLY SMALL SCREEN

TELECOM

* TV3: Outrageous Fortune, Wipe Out, Seven Days, Rove, Family Guy.

* Television NZ: Fringe, Two and a Half Men, Mentalist.

* C4: American Dad, Official NZ Top 40.

* Movie trailers and highlights.

* News.

* Kids TV: Wiggles, Bob the Builder, Shaun the Sheep, and more.

* Celeb TV.

* Blokes TV.

VODAFONE

* Playboy TV.

* MTV.

* Discovery Channel.

* Cartoon Network.

* Adult Swim.

* E!

* Sky News.

* Comedy Central.

* Sky Sports News.

* Pay-per-view Live Sports.