Coming soon to the little screen: talking pictures on a cell phone

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

With the mammoth International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas as a backdrop, Verizon Wireless planned Friday to detail a robust new service for mobile phones, one that promises better-quality audio and video — albeit custom-designed for the numerous constraints of a handheld device.

Verizon also plans to announce a major increase in the number of markets where its high-speed wireless technology will be available, as well as wider coverage in the 20 markets where it was introduced last year, according to a company source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The new Verizon offering, along with other multimedia wireless services unveiled at CES in Las Vegas, marks a big step in the industry’s push to generate revenue from more than just phone calls.

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.