MTV Networks is partnering with Amp'd Mobile Inc. to produce a made-for-mobile comedy series.The yet-to-be-named program, which is slated to come to market later this year, will be co-produced by Amp'd, MTV franchise Comedy Central and comedy writer and producer Donick Cary. The offering...
MTV Networks' Mika Salmi will oversee a new executive team charged with directing the company's digital efforts across platforms.The Viacom subsidiary said the group will "provide strategic guidance to the company's portfolio of multiplatform brands" as well as sharing best practices regarding operations, technology...
The N, a TV channel for teens developed by MTV, will be available on Sprint Nextel Corp.'s mobile TV service, the companies announced. MTV's The N Mobile will be available for $5 per month and will feature short video clips and behind the scenes...
NEW YORK-Viacom's MTV Networks division said it is expanding its mobile entertainment efforts with the launch of MTVN Mobile Media.MTVN Mobile Media will manage mobile partnerships and content distribution for the company and help develop mobile content and applications including personalization, entertainment, information and...
NEW YORK-Jason Hirschhorn, MTV Network's former digital guru, and Ben White, his deputy at MTV, have landed full-time at Sling Media. Their role is to take the company, which is known for place-shifting TV content, into what Hirschhorn calls "phase two"-letting users work with...
Consider video the wireless industry's equivalent of Powerball. But nobody's betting on the content providers.In these early days of well-heeled venture capitalists and hockey-stick projections, there is no shortage of cash in mobile video in the United States. Handset manufacturers are scrambling to rush...
Flash Lite is finally here. Verizon Wireless last week became the first U.S. carrier to offer Adobe Systems Inc.'s wireless platform, introducing a stripped-down version of its popular Flash Player for computers. The technology, which will initially be supported by four high-end handset models,...
The overwhelming majority of wireless users continue to view the phone simply as a platform for voice conversations. For a handful of aspiring filmmakers, though, it's a potential ticket to Hollywood. Entertainment industry executives and wireless types gathered last week at the Museum of...
Mobile TV has captured the industry's imagination. Wireless users can already watch music videos, check out sports clips and--with the right hardware--view full-length Hollywood blockbusters on their phones. And technology companies are betting enormous sums on the application, spending hundreds of millions of dollars...
NEW YORK—Bango announced it has partnered with MTV Networks U.K. & Ireland to provide its browse-and-buy technology for MTV's new WAP site. The MTV WAP site is designed to promote and sell digital content to users. Bango's technology streamlines the process for users to...
Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCR Wireless News to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the...
NEW YORK—Bango said it has partnered with MTV Networks U.K. & Ireland to provide its browse and buy technology for MTV’s new WAP Web site. The MTV WAP site is designed to interact with viewers to promote and sell digital content to users. Bango’s...
The buzz surrounding mobile TV and full-track downloads grows increasingly deafening as the industry heads into next month's CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment show in Los Angeles. But for now, at least, the most lucrative application in wireless may be in simple, community-based applications....
NEW YORK—The Yankee Group once again pulled together a quality list of speakers for its Wireless Leadership Summit, including executives from Sprint Nextel Corp., Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and Verizon Wireless, as well as representatives from a handful infrastructure vendors and wireless content providers. Notable...
CYPRESS, Calif.—Bandai America Inc. announced plans to release a mobile-phone version of its popular Tamagotchi virtual-pet game. Tamagotchi, first introduced 10 years ago as a handheld game, requires users to care for a virtual pet by feeding it, playing with it and performing other...
NEW YORK—MTV Networks said it is in no hurry to join the mobile virtual network operator ranks in the near term, and instead it is looking to continue supplying access to its vast array of content to as many network operators as possible. Greg...
CYPRESS, Calif.—Bandai America Inc. announced plans to release a mobile-phone version of its popular Tamagotchi virtual-pet game. Tamagotchi, first introduced 10 years ago as a handheld game, requires users to care for a virtual pet by feeding it, playing with it and performing other...
It wasn't long ago that wireless operators had a simple business plan for content and applications: Ink a boilerplate revenue-share deal, put the stuff on the deck and hope users download it. But mobile video is changing all that. As wireless TV begins to...
Amp'd Mobile Inc. has rounded out its service offering with a prepaid play that began selling last week, touting its new pay-as-you-go service as "the first and only pay-as-you-go 3G wireless phone service." Amp'd Mobile's prepaid offering charge customers 10 cents per minute for...
LOS ANGELES-Amp'd Mobile Inc. continued to rake in venture capital last week, raising $150 million in a third round of funding. New investors Tudor Investments, Intel Capital, Rho Ventures, Qualcomm Inc., Quilvest Ventures, Polygon Investment Partners and Heights Capital Management participated in the round....
LOS ANGELES – Amp’d Mobile Inc. continued to rake in venture capital this week, raising $150 million in a third round of funding. New investors Tudor Investments, Intel Capital, Rho Ventures, Qualcomm Inc., Quilvest Ventures, Polygon Investment Partners and Heights Capital Management participated in...
LAS VEGAS—Listen to Van Toffler for a few minutes and you’ll begin to wonder if the M in MTV stands for mobile. "We’re really moving into the wireless space, and our audience is clearly our master," said MTV Networks’ president, who is set to...
Amp'd Mobile Inc. is ramping up its reach, with new distribution plans and content aimed at furthering its ambition of "liberating the digital tribe," in the words of Doug Dobie, the mobile virtual network operator's chief marketing officer. Amp'd launched online in December, following...
Sling Media Inc. launched a software package allowing wireless subscribers to view TV broadcasts on Windows Mobile devices. The developer announced a beta version of the much-awaited offering, which sends video from a cable box through an Ethernet cable to a handset running Windows...
