VITA.L Regulatory News (VITA)

24 Oct 2007 07:01

Cellcast plc24 October 2007 Cellcast plc ("Cellcast" or "the Company") Cellcast plc appoints James Brown as Group Creative and Editorial Director of SUMO.tv Revenues at SUMO.tv have doubled since May 2007 Cellcast plc is pleased to make the following announcement with regards to its wholly-owned subsidiary SUMO.tv Highlights •Cellcast plc appoints Loaded magazine founder James Brown as Group Creative and Editorial Director of its wholly-owned subsidiary SUMO.tv •Acclaimed media entrepreneur will help build SUMO brand in both the UK and abroad •SUMO.tv reports Q3 revenues of £124,000, representing annualised revenue of £500,000, growing 10% a month - reinforcing the effectiveness of SUMO's multiple income stream strategy •SUMO.tv achieves 25% growth in web traffic in Q3 to overtake web rankings of UK broadcasters Five, ITV and Channel 4 - over 4 million unique users visit the site each month •Significant content deals announced with Bluefish Media, Zeal Entertainment and Liberation Entertainment •New international IPTV and mobile deals concluded and in development •Finalist at the Mobile & Internet TV Awards at MIPCOM in Cannes Cellcast plc (AIM: CLTV), the global interactive digital broadcaster, announcestoday that James Brown has been contracted through his media consultancy BlackOps to the position of Group Creative and Editorial Director of SUMO.tv. In hisnew position, Mr Brown's key responsibilities include brand development andbuilding the editorial and marketing teams. SUMO.tv is the world's first media network to seamlessly integrateuser-generated content (UGC) into television programming, internet and mobileservices, using its proprietary technical services architecture. James Brown is the internationally acclaimed founder of Loaded magazine launchedin 1994, which revolutionised the men's magazine sector. He was subsequentlyrecruited by Conde Nast to turn around the fortunes of GQ, before launching hisown company, 'I Feel Good', publisher of Viz, Jack, Bizarre, Fortean Times andthe official Leeds United FC fanzine. He sold the group for £6.4m in 2003. James Brown writes regularly for The Sunday Times, London Evening Standard andMail on Sunday, and frequently appears on television and radio as a culturalcommentator. The recipient of numerous awards, James has been voted Editor ofthe Year by both the Periodical Publishers Association and the British Societyof Magazine Editors. James Brown said: "I am thrilled to be joining an outstanding team. I lookforward to building on the current success of SUMO.tv and accelerating itsinternational growth through the development and acquisition of compellingcontent. With consumers increasingly dividing their time between proliferatingmedia sources, there are significant rewards for companies with effectivemulti-platform digital entertainment strategies and I am confident that we cancontinue to build SUMO as an exceptional integrated presence on television,online and via mobile services." Commenting on the appointment, Andrew Wilson, CEO of Cellcast, said: "We aredelighted to welcome James, who brings a strong track record of building newmedia titles and a deep understanding of our target audience, both in the UK andworldwide". SUMO.tv is also pleased to announce that revenue has more than doubled since Mayand is currently growing at a rate of 10% a month. Unaudited management accountsfor the third quarter of 2007 show revenues of over £124,000, representing anannualised revenue of £500,000. Cellcast CEO, Andrew Wilson, said: "This clearly demonstrates the increasingtraction of SUMO's strategy embracing multiple revenue streams and thesubstantial incremental revenue opportunities achieved through cycling contentacross integrated but diverse media platforms." There was a 25% increase in online traffic in the third quarter, with over 4million unique users visiting the website each month. Its Alexa web ranking nowexceeds that of national UK broadcasters Five, ITV and Channel 4, and users havecreated over 3,000 alternative online channels to show their content to aworldwide audience. The opportunity to appear on the MySUMO TV show is buildingnot only a UK community but also attracting content submissions from afast-growing international audience, including viewers in Japan, Australia,Brazil and Chile. Following successful presentations earlier this month at MIPCOM in Cannes, atwhich SUMO.tv was among the finalists at the Mobile & Internet TV Awards,Commercial Director Steve Lazarus has concluded a number of important contentdeals. In its first UK deal, online distribution specialist Bluefish Media, asubsidiary of Eidos New Media, has agreed to supply selected titles from theEidos portfolio for the "Games" section of the SUMO.tv website. In a furthersignificant move, SUMO.tv has agreed to host third-party premium contentprovided by the events and formats distributor Zeal Entertainment, as well asstreaming video and downloads from Liberation Entertainment, a major DVDdistributor. All three are revenue-sharing deals. SUMO.tv has also commenced international distribution on the European IPTVplatform Zattoo, and via mobile in Australia and New Zealand through itsexclusive Australasia distributor Hyro. Further IPTV and mobile distributionagreements are being finalised in France, South Africa and Israel, and masterlicence agreements are under discussion in the USA, Brazil and Turkey. As announced in Cellcast's interim results, discussions are in progress with anumber of parties to co-venture the further development of the SUMO.tv projectwhich will remove the need for further funding by Cellcast and willdeconsolidate its business. We will report back to shareholders on materialdevelopments in this regard. - Ends -For further information: Cellcast plcAndrew Wilson, CEO Tel: +44 (0) 20 7190 0300andrew@cellcast.tv www.cellcast.tv Media enquiries:Threadneedle CommunicationsGraham Herring / Josh Royston Tel: +44 (0) 20 7936 9605graham.herring@threadneedlepr.co.uk HB CorporateEdward Hutton / Rachel Kane Tel: +44 (0) 20 7510 8600e.hutton@hbcorporate.co.uk www.hbcorporate.co.uk About Cellcast plcCellcast plc (AIM: CLTV) is a leading international provider of participationtelevision applications and interactive mobile content in the fast-growingmulti-platform digital entertainment sector. Headquartered in London, withassociated operations in Paris, Beirut, Mumbai, Hong Kong and Sao Paolo,Cellcast's applications and programming are distributed on the Sky Digital andFreeview platforms in the UK, and the company is partnered with broadcasters andtelecom networks in Europe, the Middle East, India, South-East Asia, China, andSouth America. Cellcast plc joined the AIM market of the London Stock Exchangein 2005. About Eidos New Media / Bluefish MediaBluefish Media, founded in 2002, is a leading online distributor of digitalgames, utilising a proprietary electronic distribution system linked to ownedand operated services such as GamePueblo.com and to affiliated online portals.Over 80 game developer studios worldwide distribute their content with BluefishMedia. In 2007 the company was acquired by the New Media division of Eidos, oneof the world's leading developers and publishers of entertainment software.Eidos New Media has successfully launched award-winning mobile games based on anumber of Eidos' intellectual properties including: Tomb Raider, Hitman,Championship Manager, and Thief along with a host of other licensed titles.Eidos New Media also distributes games through digital distribution via its ownsites and partner channels as either individual consumer downloads orsubscription services. About Zeal EntertainmentZeal Entertainment is an independent events and formats distributor. Launched in2001, Zeal Entertainment is now fully owned by the Digital Rights Group. Zealhandles a range of internationally successful properties, including The SingingBee, What's the Big Idea, Under Construction, Fashion Rocks, This is Your Life,Miss World, Mr World, The European Poker Tour. Zeal represents rights forcreators and rights holders including, including the Gurin Company, JumaEntertainment, 12 Yard, TV2 Norway, Pandora Films, Remedy Productions, SoTelevision, Monkey Kingdom, Mast Media and Wall to Wall. About Liberation EntertainmentLos Angeles and London based Liberation Entertainment is an integratedindependent entertainment distribution company, primarily engaged in thebusiness of acquiring and selling film and television content and maximizing thevalue of its catalogue worldwide via DVD distribution, digital distribution andTV broadcast sales. Liberation Entertainment owns the rights to a wide varietyof audio-visual content, including over 250 feature films, two and a halfthousand hours' of classic television series, a large animation library, Sport,Special Interest, Interactive DVD and Music DVD from artists such asStereophonics, Paul Weller, Beach Boys, Carlos Santana and The Beatles. About ZattooDeveloped by leading researchers and software engineers from the University ofMichigan (Ann Arbor), Zattoo offers a commercial peer-to-peer network optimizedfor streaming video that is uniquely capable of serving the needs of consumers,broadcasters, content owners and advertisers. Zattoo partners with broadcastersand advertisers to serve consumers with a wide selection of content from varioussources in one easy-to-use web interface. Zattoo is based in San Francisco andmaintains an office in Ann Arbor as well as in Zurich, Switzerland. About HyroHyro Limited (ASX: HYO) is Australia's oldest and largest digital businessservices company. Since 1994 Hyro has been providing its clients with the threecomponents necessary to operate successfully in a digital economy: businessstrategy, creative and technology services. Hyro's offering is focussed purelyon digital services across Internet, mobile, and interactive TV channels; fromthe user's screen to the back-end systems. Its solutions include sophisticatedecommerce implementations, online advertising campaigns, adver-gaming, mobileservices such as mobile TV and m-sites, and technology development andintegration projects. With offices in Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, China,Hong Kong and Macau, Hyro's clients include major Government departments andsome of the world's best-known brand marketers. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange