Who ya gonna call: Movies coming to AT&T phones

"Ghostbusters," "Philadelphia," "Stand by Me," and other movies are coming to AT&T's new MediaFlo TV service, but you'll have to be on the ball to start watching a film from the very beginning.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Sony Pictures Television just inked a deal with AT&T and MediaFlo, which powers AT&T's just-announced live TV service, that'll deliver the new movie channel—dubbed PIX—to MediaFlo-equipped handsets.

But while you'll be able feast your eyes on a decent lineup of Sony films, including "Memento," "The Karate Kid," "Layer Cake," and "Resident Evil" (well, I liked "Resident Evil," anyway), we're not talking on-demand movies here.

Instead, the new PIX channel (which will go live when AT&T Mobile TV launches in May) works just like the rest of the MediaFlo service—meaning that movies will air at preset times (just like on good, old-fashioned TV), and there's no DVR-type features on MediaFlo (or at least, not yet).

So if you don't mind jumping into "Ghostbusters" right in the middle, PIX might be for you. But it'll be pretty annoying for those of use who prefer watching movies from beginning to end (call me crazy).

Also, PIX will be in a pricier "tier" than the rest of AT&T's upcoming MediaFlo channels (no details on pricing quite yet). Sony said it might offer PIX on other carriers with commercial breaks—although in that case, I'd expect that the channel wouldn’t cost extra.

As the Hollywood Reporter points out, on-demand movies have been available on Sprint for some time now, although the last time I checked, each movie came in a series of clips rather than in a single stream.

So, what do you think—like the idea of a mobie, linear movie channel that lets you "snack" on whatever's paying? Or would you rather go with on-demand? (Or for that matter, would you rather just watch movies on that big box in your living room?)

Related:
Sony films headed to phones [Hollywood Reporter]