I was watching basketball at the doctor's office. Makes sitting in the waiting room not so bad after all.

The trick? Having a phone with Verizon Wireless' Mobile TV service, which recently launched in 20 markets, including Denver and Colorado Springs.

The service is run by Qualcomm's MediaFlo unit. Verizon charges $15 a month (on top of your monthly calling plan) for the service, which includes eight channels that broadcast full-length TV shows to phones 24 hours a day.

The U620 from Samsung is the first phone to support the service (phone pricing varies), though Verizon has said it will add an LG Electronics phone.

(Subscribers who also sign up for mobile Internet access, worth $5 a month, and Verizon's existing Vcast service, which lets users download short video clips for $15 a month, can add MediaFlo for $25 a month, or $10 less than if they bought the three separately.)

I had the phone for two weeks, enough time to watch a slew of conference tournament basketball games and the first weekend of the NCAA tournament (available networks include MTV, CBS Corp., NBC, ESPN, Fox, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central).

My verdict: great gadget, especially for watching live shows you would otherwise miss while running errands, standing in lines, sitting in a waiting room or other things that keep you away from a television.

The picture quality was good, akin to watching TV at home, albeit on a much smaller scale. The screen on the Samsung phone is 2 inches measured diagonally, 1.63 inches across. But I still could see the action on the basketball court, though a magnifier would have been nice. And trying to read the scoreboard was tough, since it was a small speck in the corner of the screen.

The sound is good, though using the included headset is even better. You won't bother those around you, and the sound via the stereo headphones is excellent.

Switching channels is simple. Just use the directional keys on the phone's face to move up or down, and there's a TV guide to tell you what you're watching.

Two things that would make the experience better: a sturdier antenna (the current version could be easily broken off), and a stand so the phone would easily sit on a desk or table without having to lean on something else.

Mobile video services have been around in the U.S. since 2004. Ovum analyst Roger Entner says there are about 7 million current subscribers. He recently estimated MediaFlo could have 20 million to 30 million subscribers within seven years.

That number could be helped by AT&T Inc.'s Cingular Wireless, which has said it plans to launch MediaFlo service to its customers later this year.

And Qualcomm has said it plans to build a nationwide network for delivering TV to mobile phones. That would allow companies like Verizon to offer more content to customers without taking up space on their own networks.