Virgin Mobile is launching its simulcast mobile TV service - which will include BBC1 shows but will not carry adverts - early next month.

The service, which comes hot on the heels of ITV's announcement earlier this week of its own mobile TV offering, will be available from the beginning of October.

Virgin Mobile has signed deals with BBC1, which is offering content on trial for one year for free, ITV1, E4 and Channel 4.

Channel 4 will initially broadcast Channel 4 Short Cuts, its made-for-mobile TV channel, with the expectation that a full simulcast of its programmes will follow.

However, Virgin's service will be forced to launch initially without the ads shown in the TV broadcast stream, as has ITV's, due to an unresolved legal wrangle over whether broadcasters need to clear rights separately to run TV ads over digital media including mobile phones and the internet.

The mobile TV service, which is being delivered by BT's mobile broadcast entertainment service BT Movio, will also offer as many as 50 digital radio stations through the Lobster 700 phone.

"The launch of Virgin Mobile's 'tellyphone' is a real watershed, both in terms of mobile devices and the evolution of broadcasting," said Alan Gow, the managing director of Virgin Mobile.

"It could revolutionise how, when and where people choose to watch TV."

A multimillion pound advertising campaign, created by Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R, starring former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson, will break on October 9.

The service will also feature "red button" interactivity, for possible use by advertisers and brands, and a seven-day electronic programme guide.

The mobile TV Lobster phone and service will be offered free to customers on contracts of £25 a month or more. The phone will be available on pre-pay deals for £199, when the service will be free for an initial three-month period, followed by a £5 monthly charge.

· To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 7239 9857

· If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".