T-Mobile released a new video streaming iPhone app Thursday called T-Mobile TV (Free). It lets iPhone users stream from TV networks such as ESPN Mobile TV, NBC Sports, CBS Sports, Nickelodeon, Discovery, Disney Channel, Animal Planet, ABC News, Bloomberg, Fox News, MTV, Spike TV, Comedy Central, E!, and VH1. It also has on-demand primetime programming from NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox. That's quite a lineup. You can try a 30-day free trial that offers Fox News, Associated Press News, ACC Digital Network, Campus Insiders, children’s programming, and more. The app offers both live TV and on-demand streaming of earlier episodes.
The app has a range of subscription packages available. The Prime Pack costs $12.99 for 30 days and gives you all of the offerings listed above. There are also several optional premium packages. These include Crackle Movies for $6.99/month and Life & Style, which is $7.99/month and offers reality TV and drama from E!, TLC, The Style Network and Lifetime. If you buy service for 90 or 180 days, you'll receive a discounted price.
Since I'm mainly and iPad guy and don't have an iPhone, I wasn't able to test the service. I did determine, though, that the app won't run on an iPad. You get a message saying it only works with the iPhone.
Also new is Blockbuster On Demand, a free app from the Blockbuster movie-rental business that gives you access to its entire catalog of more than 100,000 movies. This is not a subscription service like Netflix, but offers rentals typically ranging in price from $2.99–$4.99. The app has versions for both the iPhone and iPad. The service offers instant streaming and both HD and full Surround Sound.
If you're not already a Blockbuster user, in order to stream movies you'll first need to register with the service on the Blockbuster website. There's no option for signing up from within the app.
The app offers a variety of ways to find movies you like, including browsing by category, or filtering the listings by criteria such as new releases, most popular, and age restriction.