Vodafone SKY TV now available on UMTS mobile phones
Milan, 29 October 2007. Vodafone Italia and SKY have signed an agreement to extend the availability of Vodafone SKY TV to UMTS Vodafone live! phones. The partnership consolidates and expands on the investment in the development of mobile digital TV and involves the production of new tailor-made content specially created for use whilst on the move.
Thanks to the new agreement, which completes the DVB-H technology agreement signed in December 2006, the availability of the Vodafone SKY TV service will increase significantly. Starting from today, in fact, the mobile portal’s 11 thematic channels can also be accessed by the millions of Vodafone customers who have a UMTS mobile phone.
To access the Vodafone SKY TV UMTS service, users simply have to click on the Mobile TV icon of the Vodafone Live! portal and choose the programme they want to watch from among the many available channels.
The offering includes the following thematic channels:
SKY TG24: the all-news channel with continuous round-the-clock updates from Italy and around the world.
SKY SPORT24: the new all-sport channel entirely dedicated to sports news round the clock, seven days a week.
SKY METEO24: weather forecasts by the minute, all day and every day of the week.
SKY SHOW Mobile: the new irreverent comedy channel for forward-looking people who have enquiring minds and are not easily satisfied.
FOX One: a single channel specially created for mobile phones showing the best TV series and programmes broadcast by SKY’s three Fox channels.
FX Mobile: the first and only Italian TV channel created for and dedicated exclusively to a male public.
National Geographic Channel: the channel about the world we live in and the way it is changing, from the latest scientific discoveries to technological innovations – a new way of looking at the contemporary world.
Cineshots: the new, fast-moving entertainment information channel created for mobile use, entirely dedicated to the movie world.
Disney Channel Mobile: featuring all the best Disney Channel programmes, including hit TV series and sit-coms.
DeeJay TV: the TV version of Radio Deejay, Italy’s most popular radio station.
All Music: the Espresso Group’s channel for the young, which has a pop soul and features a wide range of music and multimedia content.
All Vodafone SKY TV UMTS content will be offered free for a trial period of one week, after which customers can choose between the weekly offering (all channels without limits at €1 per week) or the daily offering (90 cents per day).
Vodafone SKY TV will continue to be available on all DVB-H handsets for €9.90 per month or €1.90 per day. To enjoy all Vodafone SKY TV DVB-H content, Vodafone Italia’s Facile plans include the LG KU 950 phone, which is on offer to its customers at a special price until 30 November 2007.
For more information on Vodafone SKY TV UMTS and DVB-H, visit www.vodafone.it
About Vodafone Italy
Vodafone Italia is part of the Vodafone Group, the world’s largest mobile community, with equity interests in 25 countries and Partner Networks in a further 40. Vodafone Italia was Italy’s first private mobile operator. At 30 June 2007 Vodafone Italia had over 28.3 million customers, representing a 17.3% increase on 30 June 2006, including more than 7 million Vodafone live! users. The company operates 8 Call Centres around Italy and more than 2,000 retail outlets. Total revenue for the year end 31 March 2007 was €8,145 million. Vodafone Italia has international roaming agreements with 501 operators in 237 countries. GSM-GPRS coverage extends to 97% of the country, representing 99.4% of the population. In June 2006 Vodafone Italia launched its new Super UMTS broadband service and was the first operator to achieve coverage equivalent to that of UMTS.
About SKY Italy
SKY Italia, a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corporation Limited, was founded in 2003 and has since grown constantly, reporting 4,200,000 subscribers at the end of June 2007. At present the platform presents over 170 TV and audio channels, interactive services and pay-per-view channels, offering content that ranges from sports to movies, news, entertainment, documentaries, programmes for the young and music. SKY programmes can be accessed via satellite and via IPTV. The platform’s entire TV offering is available on the broadband networks of Fastweb and Telecom Italia’s Alice Home TV and, before the end of the year, will also be available on Wind’s internet TV. Sky also transmits channels specially created for mobile television systems in collaboration with Vodafone, H3G and TIM.
For further information, please contact:
Vodafone Italia Press Office
Giuseppe Currà 348/5919936
Claudio Monteverde 348/2905202
Karen Cohen 348/4532135
Daniele de Sanctis 346/0151000
SKY Communication and External Relations
Tullio Camiglieri – 06.8866.3587
Gianluca Rumori – 02.7002.7491
Adriano Baioni – 02.7002.7261