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Televisions from the 1940s rival today’s home entertainment systems in size—albeit smaller ones. Over the years, technology helped TVs shrink to where a watchman isn’t much bigger than you average handheld.

Sprint takes TV down another notch in size with the launch today of a new video-on-demand service for mobile phones called…you guessed it, Sprint TV.

True, Sprint TV isn’t the wireless carrier’s first foray into a television-like service for mobile handsets. That honor goes to a “live” TV offering called MobiTV, developed by the same company, Idetic, behind Sprint TV.

Unlike MobiTV, which reportedly attempts to simulate motion through the display of a series of still pictures, Sprint TV is a genuine full motion video service that streams content at 15 frames per second.

Here’s how Sprint TV works.

First off, you need to purchase the Samsung MM-A700 mobile phone, as it is the only handset compatible with Sprint TV. The MM-A700 goes for $400 a la carte or $300 with a two-year service contract.

The MM-A700 receives compressed video over-the-air and decompresses content through an embedded media player on-the-fly. So you’re not downloading content first and then playing it, as video services for mobile phones usually require. The handset also supports advanced audio coding (ACC) for better than usual mobile phone sound.

For ten bucks a month Sprint PCS Vision customers get "basic" Sprint TV, which consists of two to four channels-one showing movie trailers and the others playing clips pulled from the service’s premium channels.

Premium content includes streams from the likes of NBC News, ABC News, FOX Sports, The Weather Channel, and E! Entertainment, plus a few other channels. These channels go for $3.95 to $4.95 per month each. Sprint plans to add 600 clips a day to the service.

For unlimited access to Sprint TV, subscribers can choose the Sprint Multimedia Pack, which also bundles unlimited Vision Multimedia Service, Picture Mail, and Video Mail, as well as 100 SMS messages for $25 per month.