Kansas City, Mo. ? Sprint Corp. is looking to team up with cable companies to provide more integrated phone services for cable customers, chief operations officer Len Lauer said Wednesday.

Speaking before an investment analyst conference in New York City, Lauer said talks were still in the early stages. But he said he would envision allowing customers to view film clips on their cell phones and then remotely program a TiVo-like device at home to record that movie or other programs through their cable provider.

He also favored so-called “follow me” technology that would allow cable companies to redirect calls between landline and cellular phones and provide unified voice mail service.

“We could help the cable (companies) differentiate and we differentiate and roll this out faster than (the incumbent local phone companies),” Lauer said.

Sprint, based in Overland Park, has shown its willingness to team up with cable companies in their battle with local phone service providers.

Lauer also said Sprint had asked regulatory officials in 18 states to approve the planned spin-off of Sprint’s local telephone service. The spin-off is part of a merger with Nextel that is expected to be completed during the first half of 2006.