AT&T on Thursday announced that its long anticipated broadcast style mobile TV service will debut on Sunday on Qualcomm’s Media FLO USA network.

Programming on AT&T Mobile TV with FLO, which will cost subscribers $15 per month, will run the gamut from simulcast and time-shifted TV programs to news, movies, sports, and concerts.

But AT&T is entering a very disappointing market. Mobile TV has emerged very slowly all around the world, but particularly in the United States where just 2.1 million subscribers have tried it to date.

And AT&T did not seem to be in a hurry to launch the service. AT&T’s agreement to market the service on Media FLO was first announced in February 2007 with a launch planned for later that year.

But AT&T missed its deadline even as rival Verizon Wireless launched its own broadcast mobile TV service on Media FLO in March 2007.

“AT&T Mobile TV was a brand new service on a brand new network, [and] like with anything we do, we wanted to be sure that we delivered an unmatched, high-quality offering,” said AT&T spokeswoman Jenny Parker.

Media FLO has significantly expanded their network in the past year, she said, and AT&T is only now able to offer its service in 58 of its markets.

“The market has been so slow that AT&T clearly did not see any enormous urgency to match Verizon,” said Tim Farrar, president of Telecom Media and Finance Associates. “Skepticism about mobile TV is a lot more widespread now that a year ago, and the hype has cooled even among mobile TV vendors.”

Broadcast mobile TV, which involves over-the-air reception and channel changing, has attracted only 2.1 million subscribers out of a total of 226 million in the U.S., according to M:Metrics.

AT&T blames the slow adoption of mobile TV in part on the quality of the content that is being offered.

“Consumers just aren't watching re-hashed video content on mobile phones, PDAs, and laptops,” Ms. Parker said. “The entertainment industry is starting to create compelling programming specifically for the small screen. Consumer demand and industry supply are finally on the same page.”

AT&T introduced two handsets designed to maximize the quality of the broadcast. The LG Vu is available to subscribers for $299 after a $100 mail-in rebate, while the Samsung Access is available for $199 after a $100 mail-in rebate.