The tiny set with the 2-inch diameter screen was part of grandfather DeWitt Mott's collection of doll-house miniatures and other artisan items that were on display in the Mott's Miniatures Museum at the Knott's Berry Farm amusement park in southern California.

"The television worked well into the the mid-1980s before it finally burned out," Mott said. "Unfortunately, by that time, the parts needed to restore it to working order no longer were available."

Since that day when Mott watched astronaut Neil Armstrong in black-and-white take that first step on the moon, the digital age inspired by the U.S. space program has produced its own miniaturizations - ever smaller cell phones, DVD players and mini-televisions that in recent years finally have screens that rival DeWitt Mott's in size.

What Mott and the now forgotten electrician who built his tiny set probably never dreamed was that nearly 40 years later companies such as Verizon Wireless, Sprint and Comcast would be offering cellular phones with miniature television screens and 24-hour live programming.

Verizon Wireless last month introduced in Salt Lake City its "V CAST Mobile TV" service, which offers eight channels of television with programming that comes from CBS, FOX, MTV, ESPN, NBC News, NBC Entertainment, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon.

The service is completely integrated into the cell phones with the television screens, said Robert Kelly, spokesman for Verizon Wireless. "You can take calls and messages, and when you hang up, you can go right back to the program you've been watching."

Cingular Wireless, now AT&T, has its own television/cell phone product - MobiTV.

Subscribers who have the television-enabled phones can watch news, sports and entertainment programming on 22 channels, AT&T spokeswoman Brooke Fornachari said.

Sprint offers its Sprint TV Live that simulcasts television programming to cellular phones. It also offers Power View, which it bills as the "only made-for-mobile video programming network in the U.S. It contains original sports and entertainment programming," Sprint spokeswoman Debra Havins said.

One research firm expects mobile television to become the next big thing in wireless technology.

ABI Research analyst Ken Hyers in a report last year said the fledgling market for mobile television is beginning to build momentum. He estimated that by 2011 mobile TV services will have more than 500 million subscribers worldwide, up from only 6.4 million at the end of 2005.

South Korea and Japan were the early adopters of mobile television technology, but European and North American markets are not far behind, Hyers said.

For Chris Mott, who operates Motts Miniatures & Dollhouse Shop in Fullerton, Calif., such products just don't offer the appeal of his grandfather's miniature television.

"About the only electronic device I really use these days is a laptop," he said.

steve@sltrib.com

Mobile TV on the cell

* Cost range for phones: $30 to $500

* Cost range for monthly TV service: $9.99 to $15

* Types of programming available: From regularly scheduled television to made-for-mobile TV programming