The screens may be tiny and the batteries overworked, but the wireless industry is bringing TV to a cell phone near you.

On Thursday, SmartVideo Technologies Inc. announced deals to deliver live and prerecorded TV programs from ABC News, CNBC, MSNBC and The Weather Channel to cell phones equipped with Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Mobile operating system.

The service, priced from $13 to $18 a month, is accessed through a Microsoft Web site featuring other forms of content customized for mobile devices.

Consumers have already shown an appetite for mobile e-mail, Web browsing, music and video games, but many experts view the public fascination with TV and movies as an especially potent lure for premium wireless services.

"Video is leaps and bounds above anything else" in terms of importance to users, said Roger Entner, an industry analyst for The Yankee Group. "This can certainly bring people in, because it's really eye candy."

But while cellular TV has been available for several years in South Korea wireless providers in Europe and North America are only now upgrading their networks with technology powerful enough to transmit video that doesn't look more like a slide show.