• by Wayne Friedman , May 16, 2007

It's not just TV clips on your cell phones--now, it's full TV shows.

In a major deal with mobile-phone service Sprint, ABC becomes the first network to offer full episodes of major prime-time time shows--"Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy," "Lost" and "Ugly Betty," as well as Disney Channel's top series "Hannah Montana" and ABC News' "Nightline"--on cell phones.

The multi-year deal with the mobile carrier starts this week, just in time for many of the series' season finales this month. ABC was the first network to supply full-length TV shows via the Internet through Apple's iTunes Music Store.

Cell-phone users can view the four most recent episodes of each series free, as long as they have a $20-a-month Sprint data package, called Sprint Power Vision TV Pack. Later, the shows will run with commercials.

Executives say this is Sprint's attempt to upstage Apple's iPhone, which comes out next month. Apple has a deal with Cingular, but users must buy TV shows through iTunes.

The ABC-Sprint deal's content will be available in two forms: on demand on cell phones and via three "linear" mobile channels, which stream continuous scheduled programming throughout the day.

Sprint is also the first carrier to provide ABC Mobile, a newly created linear mobile channel that features popular full-length and short-form news and entertainment content.