New Media Age articles from November 2002

New Media Age archives from November 2002

MTV opens mobile arm to get closer to viewers.(MTV UK )(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... MTV UK has created its first dedicated mobile division, part of a new drive to generate revenue streams through closer one-to-one relationships with its viewers. Odette Albani, formerly head of business development, has been promoted to...

Radio industry in move to measure online listeners.(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
November 7, 2002... The UK radio industry took a major step towards showing advertisers the value of listeners tuning in via the Internet this week. ABC Electronic announced that Capital Radio Group would be the first broadcaster to publish audited data on...

ISPs fight against role as content 'judge and jury'.(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
November 7, 2002... The UK ISP industry is facing its biggest ever audit of illegal content as calls grow for the law to be changed to enable ISPs to be freed from liability for any illicit material they carry on their servers. The recent E-commerce...

Betfair faces serious threat from horseracing tax body.(Levy Board)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Successful online betting exchange Betfair faces a major threat to its future following a decision by horseracing body the Levy Board to take a hard line over payments it makes to the horseracing industry. Until this week Betfair, in line...

SodaStream bases major Web push round Popstars.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Drinks firm SodaStream will launch its biggest ever online activity for hit ITV show Popstars: The Rivals. The online activity, which starts today (Thursday), aims to coincide with its current TV ads and will see a number of innovative...

Orange backs Guardian SMS poetry.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Orange has signed a contract with Guardian Unlimited to sponsor the site's Text Poetry competition. The competition, in its second year, invites people to text in their poetry, which is judged by a select panel and other entrants. ...

T-Mobile adoption gives LBS push into mainstream.(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
November 7, 2002... Location-based services from brands and media owners are finally ready to hit the mainstream in the UK, with the adoption of the technology by T-Mobile. The operator has reached an agreement with LBS service firm Mobile Commerce to give...

BT made official 'Celebrity Big Brother' sponsor.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... BT has signed up as the official broadcast sponsor of this year's Celebrity Big Brother in a bid to convince viewers of the benefits of 24/7 always-on broadband from BT. The six-figure sponsorship deal ensures BT on-screen advertising as...

Skinkers gets first client for scheduled video download.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Skinkers Communications, the company behind ITV's 'Desktop Des' Lynam, has signed a first client for a service letting advertisers schedule the playing of high-quality video clips to opted-in Web users. Mercury Records this week became the...

Lastminute set to launch BYO service.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Lastminute.com is thought to be set to launch a build-your-own (BYO) holiday service in the coming weeks. This will make it the third travel portal to do so, following Expedia this summer and OTC in October 2001. Travel sites are...

CD Wow! opens games section. (Breaking).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Cut-price UK music e-tailer CD Wow! has expanded its product range this week with the launch of a video games category. The firm is following the same strategy as its CD and DVD offers, selling only chart games but at discount prices and with...

Sportinglife to supply sports content for FT.com. (Breaking).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Sportinglife.com has signed an agreement with FT.com to provide content for its sports pages. The agreement will see a wide range of sportinglife.com content fully integrated into the site, including football, cricket, golf, horseracing, motor...

Littlewoods launches Space Invaders cash-prize game. (Breaking).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Littlewoods Leisure has launched a pay-to-play version of the hit arcade game Space Invaders. Cash Invaders will combine elements of the old game with a Web scratch-card offering prizes from [pounds sterling]500 to [pounds sterling]1,000....

Sky relaunches iTV shopping portal for Christmas rush. (Breaking).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Sky has this week launched its revamped iTV shopping portal, Christmas Gifts, in the run-up to the festive period. The new service has products from 60 retailers, including high street names Argos and Robert Dyas. Sky is also offering...

Freeserve boosts e-commerce with shopping on icircle. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Freeserve has boosted its e-commerce facilities with the launch of a shopping channel on its women's portal Icircie. The new channel has been developed by Ml International with improved search-engine facilities. A number of well-known retailers...

Alderney Commission awards gaming licence to Sky Bet. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... BSkyB has been given the green light to make its first foray into the increasingly competitive online casino sector. Sky Bet, it's wholly owned gambling business which was formerly known as Surrey Sports, has been awarded a gaming licence by...

Channel 4 offers direct selling via satellite return path. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Channel 4 has become the first terrestrial broadcaster to enable interactive advertisers to sell products and services directly through the satellite return path. The British Red Cross has become the first advertiser to use the service, which...

MyVillage signs Where I Live news deal with BBC. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Community portal network MyVillage has signed a deal with the BBC to provide its users with local news. The BBC is distributing links to news and information from its 37 Where I Live sites. Head of new services for the English regions at the...

02 starts marketing push for its Java games arcade.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... 02 is to launch its first marketing push for its Java games arcade next month ahead of the introduction of a host of new functionality. The operator has recorded success since launching its 02 Games Arcade on 1 September. Research carried...

Hyundai focuses on digital ads for integrated approach.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Korean car maker Hyundai says digital advertising will form an increasingly important part of its marketing strategy as it moves towards a more integrated approach across different media. Clayton Spencer, marketing programmes manager, said...

Nokia to become games publisher.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Nokia has announced its intention to become a games publisher for mobile games from independents and traditional games developers. Sega and Eidos are the first two major names to be announced. "We need a strong portfolio of content,...

Vidzone strikes deal with NTL.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Web-based music video firm Vidzone has struck its first UK broadband deal with NTL and is planning to roll out its services with the majority of the leading broadband suppliers by Christmas. Vidzone, which has agreements with most of the...

Hamleys launches.com site for greater global presence.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... The world's most famous toy shop is recreating the days of dotcom fervour with the launch of a new Web site and an array of deals designed to yield its greatest online Christmas yet. Hamleys has dropped its .co.uk domain name and opted to...

British Council starts country site rebrand in Japan.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... The British Council, the Government-backed agency that promotes relationships between the UK and other countries, has launched the first of its rebranded country-specific sites in Japan. The project, which was handled by design agency AKQA,...

Lycos UK embarks on ad accountability initiative.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Lycos UK has become the latest portal to embark on an advertiser accountability exercise, with the launch of a new initiative intended to evaluate its ad sales operation. The initiative will see questionnaires distributed to Lycos's agency...

Wippit offers Shazam service add-on.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... P2P music subscription company Wippit has this week launched a bolt-on application to Shazam's song identification service. Since its launch in October last year, Wippit has offered services to mobile phone users including an SMS-based MP3...

OD2 signs deal with Universal for digital music downloads. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... OD2 has signed a licensing deal with Universal Music in Europe which will enable it to offer repertoire from the continent's biggest music label across OD2's Web-based music service. From mid-November artists including Sting, Eminem and Pulp...

The Sun uses SMS for diet tips. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... The Sun has launched an SMS dieting service developed in partnership with sister News Corp. mobile application company Broadsystem. The service enables users who send the words 'Sundiet Tip' to a short code to receive a motivational message at...

BBC Technology signs agreement with Quantel. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... BBC Technology, part of BBC Ventures Group, has signed a deal with digital TV company Quantel to develop integrated end-to-end digital newsroom production services for the global broadcast market. The collaboration will aim to provide the...

Westlife employ SMS to promote greatest hit album. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Westlife, the UK and Europe's biggest selling boy band this year, has kicked off an SMS-based campaign to promote the launch of its Greatest Hits album, released on 11 November. The campaign, called Westlife World Cup, enables the BMG-signed...

Not13 secures deal to run first SMS campaign in US.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... UK wireless marketing outfit Notl3 has secured a deal to run the first national US mobile marketing campaign across multiple operators with a single short code. The campaign, for Elektra Entertainment Group artist Missy Elliot, offers...

02 cited as best for developers.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... A new report from WAP Wednesday and Launchworks has found 02 to be the operator providing the most amount of support to third-party content developers. The report, surveying application developers, content creators/ owners and service...

Premium TV lets fans see yesterday's matches online.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Over 70 of the UK's Football League clubs can now show delayed highlights of their matches on the Web just 24 hours after the final whistle, following the launch of a new service by rights owner Premium TV. The launch of the service...

Tate & Lyle takes requests via SMS.(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Sugar refiner Tate & Lyle has launched one of the first SMS sample-request campaigns. The campaign is being run by its Lyle's Coffee Syrups division and encourages consumers to text in to receive a free sample of one of its flavoured...

I-documentsystems signs up 10 local authorities as customers. (Finance).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... E-government solutions firm i-documentsystems says it will hit its revenue targets this year after signing up 10 more local authorities as customers. The wins mean the company now has 50 local authority clients across the country. Analysts were...

Motion Media denies rumours of securing financial deal. (Finance).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Motion Media, the visual communications technology company, has denied speculation that it's already managed to secure its financial future. The company revealed in late September that it would have to raise more funding in the short term if it...

Thus announces reduction in losses and rising turnover. (Finance).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Telecoms company Thus has announced a sharp reduction in first-half losses and rising turnover. It said this week that pre-tax losses for the six months ending 30 September were [pounds sterling]30.8m down 38% compared with the same period last...

DoubleClick completes acquisition of Protagona. (Finance).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Digital marketing company DoubleClick has completed its acquisition of Birmingham-based Protagona, which produces software to manage ad campaigns across a range of channels. Protagona shareholders will receive 2.4p a share, valuing the company...

Five centres of excellence to be set up in North East. (Finance).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Up to [pounds sterling]50m could be pumped into new media companies in the North East of England over the next five years as part of an initiative launched last week. Five centres of excellence are to be set up around the North East...

Earthport receives [pounds sterling]1m boost for joint ventures. (Finance).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Online payment platform Earth-port has been boosted by [pounds sterling]1m investment from US venture capital firm Venture Consulting Partners (VCP), which will enable it to set up global joint ventures. In return for the funds, Earth-port...

Energis to control Nevada Tele.com. (Finance).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Energis has continued its rehabilitation by taking control of Irish network and backbone specialist Nevada Tele.com, in which it already owned a 50% stake. Energis was rescued from administration earlier this summer by a new consortium led...

Sportingbet's turnover up 69%. (Finance).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Sportingbet, the online sports betting company, says its European operations should start making a profit within the next six months. In its half yearly results to the end of September, which were released last week, the company said its...

WCN reports first profit in the UK.(World Careers Network)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Graduate recruitment specialist World Careers Network made a profit in the UK for the first time last year. However, the costs of expanding into France meant the company ended up with an even greater loss than in previous years, according...

Market Watch.
November 7, 2002... UK telecom and media stocks took a beating last week after ABN Amro downgraded the sector and Banc of America took a similar dislike to Vodafone. Consequently, they ended up among the most traded equities of the week. However, this wasn't...

Reviving ideas that were before their time. (Investor Speak).
November 7, 2002... It's easier to look ahead rather than behind. People prefer looking for patterns into the future; eyes get drawn more easily by lines stretching ahead. But it pays to take a look in the rearview mirror from time to time. One of the highest...

Fuji Film takes on Transversal to streamline web enquiries. (Technology).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Photography giant Fuji Film has partnered with Web services firm Transversal in a bid to cut down the number of customer enquiries that it gets through its Web site. As part of the partnership, Fuji Film will use Transversal's Metafaq...

Nokia and Orca work on iTV broadband applications. (Technology).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Nokia has joined forces with the interactive TV technology developer Orca Interactive to roll-out a range of broadband-based iTV applications. The partnership will see the two firms marketing each other's products, as well as integrating Orca's...

Softwrap offers Sports Mogul digital distribution support. (Technology).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Digital rights management firm Softwrap has partnered with games developer Sports Mogul to enable it to sell online some of its most popular games. As part of this deal, Sports Mogul can now safely wrap and distribute through the Web several of...

Host Europe launches Web hosting management tool. (Technology).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Pan-European hosting conglomerate Host Europe has launched a new Web-based service which will enable its customers to manage their Web hosting solutions. My Server World will enable customers to monitor bandwidth utilisation as well as...

Comgenic targets shopping centres with networking tool. (Technology).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... A new joint venture hopes to transform shopping centres with the launch of a complete communications system linking centre managers. stores and consumers through a variety of platforms. The Comgenic technology lets shoppers browse their...

BTG launches streaming video delivery company. (Technology).(Di-Stream)(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... BTG, a global backer of technology companies, has launched a new firm that it claims will revolutionise the delivery and cost of streaming video over the Web and digital cable. Di-Stream has launched its new streaming product which will,...

Terra Lycos develops first IM service. (Technology).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Terra Lycos is working with IBM on its first instant messaging service. The new service will launch by the end of the year and will be based on IBM's Lotus software Sametime. It will offer interoperability with the IM services of rival...

Babel signs phone game testing deal with Vodafone. (Technology).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Interactive games agency Babel Media has made its first major foray into mobile phone games testing through a contract with Vodafone. Babel was taken on by Vodafone to test 56 games published by developers including Namco and G-Mode. ...

Channelbay develops eTV offering for broadcasters. (Agencies).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Interactive TV developer Channelbay is hoping to tap into the lucrative broadcaster market with a suite of off-the-shelf applications based on enhanced programming. The agency is targeting broadcasters who wish to add interactivity to the...

Scient UK will rebrand to SBI. (Agencies).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Scient UK, the UK arm of the digital consultancy whose US parent went into Chapter 11 in July, is to rebrand as SBI but says it won't change its core services. Scient Inc. sold up to professional services group SBI as part of its bid to...

DNA forced to cut 10% of staff due to tough market. (Agencies).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Digital marketing agency DNA Consulting has been forced into a round of redundancies following an extremely hard trading climate over the past few months. The agency, which has until now held off from making redundancies, has let four...

Creativebrief to streamline pitching. (Agencies).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... A former VP of Grey Communications has set up a global interactive matchmaking service to streamline the pitching process. Creativebrief, set up by Tom Holmes, who was also a director at The Lowe Group and Saatchi & Saatchi, will act as an...

GR/DD completes work for MacCormac Jamieson Prichard. (Agencies).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Graphic and interactive design consultancy GR/DD has completed work on a new site for architects MacCormac Jamieson Prichard. It has been authored in Flash 5 and is designed to reflect the architects' philosophy and the materials they use in...

Zentropy Partners creates microsite for NatWest One. (Agencies).
November 7, 2002... Full service agency Zentropy Partners has created a new microsite for NatWest to promote its NatWest One product, which combines a current account, mortgage, loans and savings in the same account. The site, which backs up a major offline ad...

Nowwashyourhands launches new site for Add N to (X). (Agencies).
November 7, 2002... nowwashyourhands.com Design agency Nowwashyourhands has launched a new site for music act Add N to (X). The site has no conventional navigation, instead presenting the user with a series of randomly selected images accompanied by tracks...

Oyster Partners. (Agency Wins).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Consultancy Oyster Partners has been appointed by Britannia Building Society to redesign and redevelop its main Web site. The project, which was won following a competitive pitch, will see the agency improving the site's information...

Ad 2-One strengthens offer by signing up Mothercare.com. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Sales house Ad 2-One says it's strengthening its offering to advertisers who want to reach a female audience online by signing up Mothercare.com as a client. Director Grant Allaway said his company's portfolio had been strong in travel, selling...

NTL cuts broadband prices until end of year to rival BT. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Cable company NTL is offering cut-price broadband Internet installation until the end of the year. The company says its 1Mb broadband service is twice as fast as rival BT's offering and just [pounds sterling]5 a month more expensive. It's...

Opodo to drive traffic to UK, France and Germany sites. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Travel portal Opodo has launched an affiliate marketing programme to drive additional traffic to its three sites in the UK, France and Germany. Partner sites will be rewarded for sending traffic to Opodo on a commission-per-booking basis....

Media Masters promotes Wippit service to clients. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Digital customer acquisition agency Media Masters is promoting music download service Wippit across its client sites. Media Masters, which handles content and customer relations for Web sites, is promoting Wippit through banners and buttons on...

Shift to Outside Line begins major push for Craig David. (Marketing).
November 7, 2002... Craig David is being given his biggest ever interactive push for the launch of his second album. This follows the move of all his label's new media activity to Outside Line, the interactive music-marketing specialist. Telstar's former...

NTL launches site to plug film festival sponsorship. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... NTL Home has launched a broadband microsite to promote its sponsorship of the 46th Regus London Film Festival this month. It's promoting the site ntlworld.com/filmfestival on literature for the event and on its own home page. The site...

Virgin Holiday drives late deals online. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Virgin Holidays is promoting its Megadeals range of late-deals holidays through an online ad campaign targeting high-income 24- to 45-year-olds. Agency Internate is running a range of formats, including pop-ups, banners and sponsorship...

BT offers free Web in kiosks. (Marketing).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... BT Payphones is running a weeklong campaign to promote its broadband Internet kiosks. It's offering free access to 350 of its Internet kiosks in London this week, promoting the offer with a [pounds sterling]1,000-a-day competition on Kiss...

French virgin site to begin offering films by download. (International).(Virgin Megastore France )(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Virgin Megastore France will start offering movies on demand next week in a defiant move signalling its continued commitment to digitally delivered products. The launch of the service comes despite the breakdown of its music download...

Terra Lycos aims for profit despite Bertelsmann loss. (International).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Terra Lycos remains on target to hit profitability next year, despite the likelihood that German media group Bertelsmann will pull out of its $lbn ([pounds sterling]640m) advertising contract with the Spanish portal. Terra parent...

Egg backs launch of credit card in France with [pounds sterling]50m. (International).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Egg has unveiled details of its credit card launch in France, in the online bank's first move overseas. The Visa card, called La Carte Egg, will have to compete in the world's third-largest card market in terms of balances. The launch is...

European e-tailers go live with Visa. (International).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Hundreds of e-tailers across Europe have gone live with Verified by Visa (VbV) in the past week, signalling the credit card company's secure online payment system is finally reaching the public. Web sites including footlockereurope.com,...

Amazon.com about to launch clothing channel. (International).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Amazon is moving into the clothing business in the US with the launch of an apparel and accessories category on its site. The new section will include products from around 400 brands, including Gap, Lands' End, Foot Locker and Guess. According...

Vivendi turns down Vodafone bid for stake in Cegetel. (International).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Vivendi Universal has turned down Vodafone's bid for its 44% stake in French mobile operator Cegetel. Vivendi's board said last week that the proposed [euro]6.8m ([pounds sterling]4.3m) sum offered by Vodafone didn't "reflect the true value of...

African mobile operator selects MMS providers. (International).
November 7, 2002... Pan-African mobile operator Vodacom has selected Openwave and Siemens to provide it with MMS services. Siemens will manage the implementation of Openwave's full range of MMS components, which Vodacom has licensed. openwave.com

SDL unveils 90-language translation site. (International).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Multilingual Internet solutions specialist SDL International has launched a new Web site to assist with translations. The site, click2translate.com, went live this week offering three levels of translation services covering over 90 languages....

Icann board votes to drop public elections. (International).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Icann, the governing body for the Internet's domain name system, has formalised proposals to abandon online elections of board members. The move replaces the organisation's 'at large' membership, voted by the public, with internally selected...

English speakers dominate global Web population. (Trends).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Just over a third of the global online population is native English speaking, according to statistics from Global Reach. These show that there are 231m native English speakers online, compared to 403.5m non-native English speaking users....

Storm disruption pushes up visitors to travel sites. (Trends).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Last week's windy weather saw the UK population rushing online to find travel information. Latest Hitwise statistics show traffic to travel/transport sites increased by 21%. Regional train companies enjoyed the highest traffic levels. First...

E-shoppers prefer free delivery. (Trends).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... Online shoppers are willing to bear longer delivery times if they don't have to pay shipping and handling fees, finds a new study from Jupiter Research. It revealed that although many consumers prefer shopping offline because possession of the...

Music downloads used as trial ahead of CD purchase. (Trends).
November 7, 2002... The idea that people who already download music from the Internet are more likely to pay for the privilege is gaining ground. Following a recent survey by Jupiter Research (NMA 24 October), another study commissioned by Italy-based online...

EMS will help messaging outstrip mobile Internet. (Trends).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... The market for mobile phone messaging will outstrip that of mobile Internet services as result of a boost from improved technology, according to InStat-MDR. The messaging market will benefit from enhanced messaging services (EMS) as well...

Ads from wireless providers double. (Trends).(Brief Article)
November 7, 2002... The number of wireless providers currently advertising on the Web has more than doubled in the last year, says the latest Nielsen// NetRatings AdRelevance report. From May to September, wireless advertisers accounted for 2.4% of the entire...