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America's largest wireless carrier, Cingular Wireless, becomes the country's third operator after Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless to offer on-demand video to subscribers. Based on RealNetworks Helix OnlineTV platform, Cingular Video streams audio/visual content to customers at 3G speeds (400 to 700 kbps) in 16 cities across the country.

Cingular Video supports 3 to 5 minute clips over 18 channels from the likes of HBO (Sopranos, Sex and the City, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Entourage), The Weather Channel, ABC TV, Adult Swim, FUEL, iFilm, TV Guide Channel, Music Choice, Fox Sports, ESPN, the Disney Channel, NBC, and the Cartoon Network, to name just a few.

It is not to be confused with Cingular's MobiTV-run television offering, which delivers live television broadcasts over the operator's standard 2.5G or EDGE network - 70 to 135kbps. MobiTV costs $9.99 per month and requires a data plan, ranging in price from $4.99 for 1 MB to $19.99 unlimited.

The new service is free to Cingular customers with an unlimited $19.99 per month Broadband Connect plan, which also includes all-you-can-eat messaging and image sharing. As a premium offering, the HBO channel costs an extra $4.99 per month.

Verizon's Vcast video-on-demand service by contrast delivers 300 channels of 1 to 4 minute clips for $15 per month, while Sprint's $9.99 offering requires users pony up $10 to $20 per month for a data plan as well.

"Cingular Video offers the highest degree of personalization and the widest selection of desirable content in the U.S. market," said Sam Hall, Cingular's mobile browse and developer program VP. "The service is designed with today's mobile consumer in mind and users are never more than a few clicks from their favorite programs."

Cingular launched its first two HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) technology 3G phones yesterday, the LG CU320 and Samsung's ZX10: both $99 with a two-year service contract, after a $50 rebate. It plans to add the Nokia 6282 and LG CU500 to its 3G lineup soon as well.

Cingular Video and Broadband Connect are available to users in Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Portland Oregon, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose California, Seattle, Tacoma, and Washington D.C. Additional markets will follow during the coming year.

Mobile TV or Not
Carriers have spent a lot of money rolling out faster networks in an attempt to increase revenue, as data and content service have been shown to up ARPU (average revenue per user) over voice alone, which has increasingly become a commodity.

But are consumers ready to watch mobile video and TV on their small handset screens? According to a new RBC Capital Markets survey of 1,001 Americans, perhaps they aren’t. The RBC study found that three-quarters of those surveyed weren't interested in watching TV programs or movies on their mobile device, let alone using a cell phone for music even.

In addition, too many product choices prevented 45 percent of consumers from making a purchase decision, while rapidly changing technology deterred more than half (56 percent) from buying into new handheld technologies.

It also suggested the benefits of converging mobile technologies are not yet well understood enough to drive a purchase decision. Hence, the reluctance by most consumers to go the handset TV or music routes.