Sprint launched what it purported to be a television service for mobile phones last month. Contrary to the name, however, Sprint TV is really video-on-demand and not broadcast television. It isn't particularly "broad" either, as it only works with one mobile handset, the Samsung MM-A700 (see Sprint Channels Video-On-Demand to Mobile Phones).

Putting rivalry aside, five leading mobile phone manufacturers—Motorola, NEC, Nokia, Siemens and Sony Ericsson—are working together to specify what the industry needs to do to bring true broadcast services to mobile phones and smartphones.

To do this, the companies are working under the auspices of the Open Mobile Alliance, an organization with the mission to facilitate global user adoption of mobile data services and ensure interoperability across devices, geographies, service providers, operators, and networks

Although mobile phone TV spearheads the intuitive, mobile broadcast services could enable the mobile mass delivery of any type of multimedia content, including music and video. Whatever content mobile broadcast services deliver, however, the companies involved believe it will greatly increase the consumption of media content by mobile devices. They also expect it to drive the demand for new types of broadcast-minded smartphones with the color displays, local memory and applications to consume this type content.

To Motorola's CTO Steffen Ring, it is content and the ability to deliver it that are the keys to making mobile broadcast services succeed. He said "content is king, mobility is queen. And we have come together to make this Royal Marriage happen."

At the forefront of mobile broadcast services development is NEC, which developed the first working prototype of a mobile phone capable of receiving digital TV broadcasts last year. No doubt the company's technology is behind the first Mobile Phone TV service, which is in the process of being introduced in Japan. The next market due for a taste of Mobile Phone TV is Europe. But that won't happen until the end of next year. There is no word as to when this type of service might make its way to the United States.