A top Hollywood movie studio has teamed up with a global mobile phone service provider to supply film-linked content for a wireless entertainment and games service, it said here Tuesday.
The deal, signed Monday, marks the first ever multiyear content deal between a major Hollywood studio and a top mobile operator.
Sony Pictures Digital, a unit of Japanese-owned Sony Pictures Entertainment, will provide content from its archives and promotional material to German-based T-Mobile, a division of Deutsche Telekom AG.
Under the pact the studio will provide content such as movie clips, screensavers, Multi-Media Message Service pictures, theme-tune ring tones, movie trailers and games.
"With the movie industry worth in excess of US$40 billion annually, content from movies will be a major feature in our T-zones," said Nikesh Arora of the management board of T-Mobile International.
Content from Sony's library will to be used on the service include items from classic movies and television shows including Men in Black, Ghostbusters, Easy Rider and Starsky and Hutch.
"Drawing from the rich library of Sony Pictures Entertainment enables us to create and publish innovative, personalized entertainment experiences for the mobile consumer," said Rio Caraeff, Sony's wireless services president.
The service will allow the target audience of 18-24 year-olds enter Sony competitions to win prizes.
The deal is aimed at generating revenue from next-generation mobile communications such as MMS.
Both companies will receive revenue from the service which will allow users to download games for between 1.49 euros to 2.99 euros.
RSS