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MTV to distribute content through
China Mobile
BEIJING - MTV
Networks yesterday formed an alliance with China
Mobile, the world's biggest wireless telecoms
operator, giving birth to potentially the biggest
revenue pool in China for the cable TV arm of the
global media giant Viacom.
"Expanding our
position in digital and wireless music is a global
priority for us," said Bill Roedy, vice-chairman
of MTV Networks. "It is a big benchmark in our
history to partner with China Mobile," he added at
a press conference in Beijing yesterday. He
believes the partnership with China Mobile
introduces an exciting new medium for TV
broadcasters and record companies that is
piracy-free, increases revenue and raises customer
loyalty, and said that MTV will introduce the
strategy in other parts of the world.
From
May 1, MTV and China Mobile will launch MTV Zone
on the network of the top telecoms operator, which
has more than 220 million subscribers and acquires
3 million new users every month. It will be the
first time MTV content will be distributed on the
mobile phone platform. China Mobile's subscribers
will be able to download music ringtones and
ringback tones, or watch entertainment news and
clips of popular songs, provided by MTV.
Lu Xiangdong, deputy general manager of
China Mobile, said its subscriber base for
ringback tone services grew from 1 million at the
beginning of 2004 to more than 40 million by the
end of the year.
The two companies will
also launch a mobile music chart, with the most
popular song receiving a prize at the Mandarin
Music Honors awards ceremony organized by MTV and
China Central TV.
Peter Lu, a technology
and media industry analyst based in Beijing, said
the partnership has spawned a fast-growing
business opportunity for MTV to extend its
previously limited penetration. Foreign TV
companies are only allowed to broadcast in
residential areas where foreigners live, such as
at hotels of at least three stars and in the Pearl
River Delta near Hong Kong.
Li Yifei,
managing director of MTV China, said regulatory
restrictions do not apply to the content provided
to China Mobile. She believes mobile phone music
services will become the biggest revenue pool for
her company, as broadcasting and program
production businesses are subject to tight
regulations. However, MTV is one of the first
foreign broadcasters to be granted a licence to
develop a production joint venture, with Shanghai
Media Group (SMG).
Ye Bing, general
manager of the data service department of China
Mobile, said the mobile music service will follow
the same revenue sharing model, in which service
providers get 85 per cent of the downloading fees
and China Mobile gets the rest. Subscribers
usually pay between 1 and 3 yuan (12 to 36 US
cents) to download a song.
Lu believes the
imminent launch of the third generation of mobile
communications systems in China increases the
significance of the venture for MTV. Eventually,
MTV will be able to show its video content, which
will generate even more cash for the US firm.
The company also said a joint venture
between MTV's cartoon channel Nickelodeon and SMG,
to be called Shanghai HANA Nick TV Production Co
Ltd, will start to beam programs into 4.5 million
households in Shanghai on the SMG children's
channel from May 1.
(Asia
Pulse/XIC) |
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