Texas Instruments, a company well-known for its calculators, says it has developed a computer chip that will let television fans watch their favorite shows on cellular phones. TI said Thursday that this is the first digital TV on a single chip for cell phones and could be ready for testing in 2006 and for sale the next year.

Texas Instruments' digital TV on a single chip for cell phones will allow cell phone users to watch live broadcasts.

TV phones are being tested in Korea, and Texas Instruments officials said Asia and Europe are likely to adopt the technology ahead of the United States. The officials compared TV phones to camera phones, which initially were dismissed as a showy gadget but have proven popular.

Bill Krenik, an executive in Texas Instruments' wireless business, said the phones could even change Americans' TV-watching habits, shifting prime time from evenings to rush hour, with commuters hunching over their phone screens on the bus or subway.

Texas Instruments supplies chips for about half the world's cell phones. To increase sales in a maturing market, the company is seeking to put more powerful chips in advanced phones.

For 'Hollywood,' Texas Instruments said it would combine on one chip an analog radio-frequency chip, which acts as a tuner, with digital chips to process the signal and decode channels. Rivals such as Xceive or Dibcom make separate components.

'One by one, the industry's most exciting consumer electronics are being integrated into wireless handsets, allowing consumers to get their news and entertainment whenever and wherever they want. With this new chip on the cell phone, users will enjoy digital, high-quality TV in real time.'

The chip will support emerging digital TV broadcast standards for the wireless industry. While no single standard is likely to be used worldwide, TI said it believes that the most prevalent standards will be those that are open and non-proprietary.

These include Digital Video Broadcasting Handheld, developed for Europe and expected to extend to North America, and the Japanese Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting Terrestrial. The Hollywood chip will support both.

Dedicated wireless networks supporting these standards will feature high-quality live broadcast TV (24-30 frames per second).

The networks also could support services including pay-per-view programming, interactive TV and menu/guide systems.