Warner Bros. streams to Europe's phones

Vodafone Group will distribute outside the United States cell phone games, screen savers and ring tones based on Warner Bros. entertainment, the first global agreement between the two companies.

The "made for mobile" offerings will be available in 16 of the 17 mainly European countries, where Vodafone sells cell phone downloads, the companies said Monday. They won't be available to Vodafone customers in Japan.

For now, the two companies think video is best used to augment games and screen savers, so Warner hits like "The Matrix" and the "Harry Potter" films won't be cropping up on cell phones any time soon. Vodafone only recently began selling 15- to 20-second video clips, such as news or sports highlights.

Vodafone entered into the deal with Warner Bros. Entertainment, the media giant's strategic digital-planning and marketing arm. The two companies have worked together before--but only on a limited scale.

Cell phone service providers worldwide are relying more on the sale of ring tones and games, as competition reduces the cost of phone calls, still their bread and butter.

While such offerings have become big business in Europe and Asia, United States-based carriers say the U.S. audience for cell phone extras remains disappointing.