AT&T’s head of its wireless and consumer markets has not ruled out selling phones with the ability to receive mobile digital TV (mobile DTV), provided there’s something in it for the carrier, AP reports. At CES last week, television stations in 22 cities, covering 35 percent of the U.S., said they would roll out mobile digital this year. The broadcasts would likely be ad-supported, and free to consumers as long as their mobile phones had the receiver to let them view them. Ralph de la Vega, president and chief executive of the carrier’s Mobility and Consumer Markets, said in an interview with the newswire that just because the operator offered a mobile TV service using Qualcomm’s MediaFlo that is priced at $15 a month for 10 channels, didn’t mean that it was “opposed” to mobile DTV. De la Vega said that AT&T (NYSE: T) would take a look at it to see if customers wanted it and if it was a “good way to monetize our business.” He said, “With all of these things, the thing that works best is if you do a revenue share model. It’s conceivable one could do a revenue share of the advertising or some other approach.”

SEE ALSO: @ CES: What Live Digital TV Over A Mobile Phone Looks LIke

For now, MediaFlo and the Open Mobile Video Coalition, the industry group representing commercial and public broadcasters behind mobile DTV, seem to be doing a very careful dance around each other. MediaFlo marketing VP Matt Milne told PC Magazine that there was room for both MediaFlo and mobile DTV. MediaFlo, whose service is available through Verizon (NYSE: VZ) and AT&T for a monthly charge, has been pushing the line that its offering, which provides consistent programming across the country, should be likened to cable, while mobile DTV, which will provide different channels in each city, should be compared to broadcast TV. Meanwhile, Anne Schelle, the OMVC’s executive director tried to wave aside mobile DTV’s own demo running major network programs like NBC’s “30 Rock” and Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor”, both of which are currently available through MediaFlo. Schelle mused that it was local programming that might actually be the service’s “sweet spot,” and noted that “access to live local content is clearly missing in today’s mobile video offering.” Milne added that if mobile DTV’s shows were to overlap with their own, MediaFlo could “easily adapt with different content.”

But would it be enough to rejig the line-up?

More after the jump