Sprint Nextel and four large cable television providers will move beyond the Holy Grail of integrated telecommunications offerings - the so-called triple play of voice, data and video - with a joint venture aimed at adding wireless service to the mix.

The joint venture, announced Wednesday, aims to integrate Sprint Nextel's wireless service with voice, data and video services offered by the cable giants for a quadruple play by 2006. The five companies - including Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications and Advance/Newhouse Communications - plan to offer co-branded wireless devices that integrate cable TV programming, also by 2006.

One of the goals of the collaboration is to provide live cable broadcasts over handheld mobile devices, said James Fisher, a Sprint Nextel spokesman. "It takes the customer experience to a whole new level," Fisher said of the joint venture.

Sprint Nextel will invest $100 million into the joint venture, and the four cable providers will jointly contribute another $100 million. The joint agreement runs for 20 years and is mutually exclusive for three years.

The announcement comes after Apple last month launched downloads for a new video-capable version of its iPod device. At the same time, large telecommunications carriers are beginning to offer video over IP service in competition with the cable providers, with Verizon launching its fiber-optic video service in Keller, Texas, in September, and SBC receiving approval this week from the Public Utility Commission of Texas to launch its own video service in the San Antonio, Texas, area.

But the joint agreement between Sprint Nextel and the cable providers was in the works before the recent announcements from competitors, with the cable providers talking about such a project for about a year, said a Comcast spokeswoman. The joint venture will offer a "far better experience" than triple-play services currently offered by competitors, she said.

The companies envision several services, including customers being able to program their digital video recorders from a Web site or a mobile phone, the spokeswoman said. The companies will use Sprint Nextel's EV-DO (evolution data optimized) broadband wireless service to offer cable services over so-called next-generation wireless phones..

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.