Volantis says that it has been chosen by the UK television company, Channel 4 to develop and host the first dedicated Channel 4 branded mobile portal. The sevice will go live on 27th May 2005 to coincide with the launch of Big Brother 6. Later versions will include a wide variety of content from Channel 4's top programmes, including Channel 4 News.
Big Brother 6 content will combine the best elements of the official Big Brother website, plus exclusive Big Brother content including news stories, information and gossip on the housemates, video clips and downloads to provide a comprehensive consumer experience around Big Brother.
The Channel 4 mobile portal promises to be one of the UK's most popular direct-to-consumer mobile websites, especially as Big Brother audiences averaged over 5 million viewers per show in 2004, and a third of the total 15 million votes cast were via SMS. Its design will reflect TV broadcast and PC Internet content, and will include real-time updates of news, editorial commentary, video streaming, ringtones, images, games, quizzes, competitions and voting capabilities.
The Channel 4 mobile portal utilises Volantis Managed Services, which provide end-to-end management and optimised delivery of content to different mobile devices across any network. Using Volantis Intelligent Content Adaptation technology, mobile web pages and downloads are optimised for each individual handset by recognising more than 350 attributes of over 1,300 mobile device types and generating, in real-time, content precisely formatted for every device.
Paul Whitehead, Head of Business Development for Channel 4 New Media, said: "Viewers are used to having a number of ways to interact with Channel 4 content including TV, Internet and SMS. Our mobile portal strategy ensures viewers will have 24/7 real-time, 'anytime, anywhere' access, whatever their handset, to the latest news and content from Channel 4 programmes like Big Brother. With their extensive experience of delivering large-scale mobile portals for leading international brands, Volantis is the ideal partner to help us achieve our strategy."
Posted to the site on 24th May 2005
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/12935.php