The next level of mobile broadband could be a tremendous help to both music labels and video operators, companies from both fields have said. Fourth-generation wireless, which should appear in the US primarily through Intel's WiMAX standard, should drastically lower the costs of downloading media by not only speeding access but taking the burden off of typically cramped cellular networks, which even with third-generation EVDO (from Sprint and Verizon) or HSDPA (from AT&T) struggle to handle heavy downloading. WiMAX is closer to Wi-Fi and pleases labels who could expect to see more income from every track.

"We're negotiating over a much larger number, rather than the tight margins we have today,"said Warner Music's strategic management VP Michael Nash at the CTIA phone expo last month.

Video would also be more realistic -- and not just for phones, says MobiTV. The company showed HDTV streaming through WiMAX and noted that computers or virtually any device with the right adapter would have the choice of watching MobiTV's programming.

WiMAX is similar to Wi-Fi but has a much wider range, covering roughly the same range as cellphone networks. Sprint is the chief supporter of the format in the US and hopes to test the wireless standard in a few cities this year, with 19 cities officially online by April of next year.