With the American mobile phone market growing by leaps and bounds, domestic companies are scrambling to figure out how best to turn a profit off of the surging trend. Now broadcast television networks NBC and ABC have joined those ranks. The former today announced a licensing deal with AEGF to make NBC Sports-branded games, while the latter joined with software developer Proteus earlier this week to offer downloadable ringtones and wallpapers for its lineup of shows, from Alias to All My Children.

　　Under the NBC deal, AEGF will create games for mobile phones that "will be directly interactive with NBC Sports broadcasts." The first wave of games from the agreement will include versions of golf, hockey, horse racing, poker, and skiing.

　　NBC Sports president Ken Schanzer said the deal was a natural extension for the NBC Sports brand. "This is a great way to utilize our content to reach out to the all-important 18-34 male demo in an entertaining and relevant way," Schanzer said.

　　While NBC aims for the XY market, ABC's deal (and its soap opera lineup, which includes General Hospital, All My Children and One Life to Live) could have a broader impact with the fairer sex. At present, the ABC mobile page is strongly skewed to females, with the three soaps and Alias the only shows to have downloadable content. Proteus has only confirmed Jimmy Kimmel Live as another ABC show that will get the downloadable-content treatment, with no mention of plans for other ABC properties, such as Lost or Desperate Housewives.