Sprint to Offer Full-Length Mobile Movies

By Geoff Duncan December 12, 2005

Mobile operator Sprint Nextel is expected to announce a partnership with mobile media company MSpot to provide full-length movies to mobile phone users. The service, which should be available to subscribers immediately, would enable subscribers to view an unlimited number of shows, movies, concerts, and other special programming for a flat $7/month fee on top of other regular charges.

Sprint’s move comes as wireless companies struggle to enhance their service offering into new areas like photos, video, and music, primarily to create new revenue streams as the market for mobile voice services stops growing. While Apple is demonstrating a potential portable video market with its recently introduced video iPod (and partnerships with Disney and NBC to sell current and classic television episodes via the Internet), the market for watching full-length movies on a tiny 2- to 3-inch screen is unproven, especially if that video has to be streamed in real-time over wireless broadband networks which, although growing, don’t yet offer nearly the coverage offered by traditional, still-unreliable cellular networks.

Of course, mobile video services may face the same problems as satellite and cable video: so many choices, so little worth watching. Although Sprint says they plan to offer roughly one new film every day as the service ramps up, initial offerings on Sprint’s movie service aren’t on anyone’s top-ten list of must-see flicks. Early content will include the 1961 Brando/Malden western One-Eyed Jacks, George Romero’s 1968 camp classic Night of the Living Dead, and the 1986 Ally Sheedy/robot buddy film Short Circuit. Not exactly awful films, but are they something for which cell phone users will pay another $7/month to watch in their entirety on their phones? Sprint says they plan to divide films up into scenes and segments, similar to DVDs, so mobile phone users can more easily watch the films in short chunks. Sprint and MSpot are also reported to be in negotiations to offer more recently-released content, although no potential titles or distribution partners have been announced.

Editors' Recommendations

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Geoff Duncan writes, programs, edits, plays music, and delights in making software misbehave. He's probably the only member…

Mobile

Ends tonight: Get 3 months of Mint Mobile for just $15

Mint Mobile Promotional.

Do you ever get the feeling that you're paying too much for your cell phone plan? If you've had the same carrier for years now, maybe it's time to switch it up. Hunting for a better deal is a great way to save money in the long run, and there are fantastic cell phone plan deals that can save you a nice chunk of change in the short term too. Mint Mobile has an offer today that gets you three full months of their service for just $45 total—just $15 per month. Keep reading for all the info you need, or head over to Mint's site and sign up. The deal ends today!

Why you should sign up for Mint Mobile with this deal
The best part about this deal is that it applies to every plan they have. That's right, no matter what data plan you opt for, your first three months will be $15 each. That means you can sign up for a small plan, just 5GB, and pay the usual rate, $15 per month. Or, if you're a thrifty shopper in it for the deals, you can sign up for the full unlimited plan, which is normally $30 per month, and still pay just $15 per month for three months. There are also 15GB and 20GB plans in between, and they're also—you guessed it—$15 per month for three months.

Entertainment

How to download movies and shows from Prime Video

Amazon Prime Video Mac app Home screen selection.

The Amazon Prime Video app allows you to download movies and show episodes for offline viewing on your Android or iOS device or on a desktop Mac or Windows computer. That way, you can keep yourself entertained with Prime content when you're away from a cellular or WiFi signal—like, say, when you're on an airplane.

To download an Amazon Prime movie or show, follow these easy steps:

Entertainment

How to download shows and movies from Hulu for offline viewing

Hulu is a juggernaut when it comes to serving up your favorite shows and movies. One of the biggest advantages Hulu has over other giants like Netflix is that you can often watch new network TV episodes the day after they air. Netflix only streams complete seasons once the final episode airs and only does so after securing the rights.

That said, if you’re a busy bee and you missed last night’s episode of Saturday Night Live, Hulu has you covered. Better yet, if you're still busy and won't have time to get online, Hulu allows you to download content for offline viewing, which is not only convenient for when you're, say, on a long flight, but downloading will also save your precious wireless data plan.