Coming to a smartphone near you -- local TV

TV stations have been locked out of the screens we carry with us every day -- those of cellphones. Wednesday they gained a foothold in the wireless world, though it's not yet clear whether there's real consumer demand.

For years TV stations have been unsuccessful in getting cellphone companies interested in such phones. Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc. instead sold access to a broadcast network set up by Qualcomm. That network was shut down last year because of low consumer interest.

Stephen Jemente, product manager for digital media at MetroPCS, emphasized that its phone will be different in that it will get local stations, with weather and traffic reports. Its customers are also usually young and consume a lot of digital media, he said.

Dallas-based MetroPCS is the fifth-largest cellphone company in the United States, with 9.1 million subscribers. It concentrates on big cities and low-income households.

"Consumers will be able to enjoy the local nightly news on the bus, their favorite daytime talk show on their lunch break or live sporting events while running errands," the company said.

MetroPCS didn't say what the TV-capable phones would cost or if it would charge a monthly fee to access TV broadcasts. The phones will have an extendable antenna for the TV signals.

It's difficult technically to get phones to tune in to regular broadcasts destined for TV sets. Instead, the Samsung phones will receive special Mobile DTV signals broadcast by 72 stations in 32 cities. They're usually retransmissions of their main channels but at a lower resolution.