February 27, 2006 News Corporation to Tap Not Just Its Film Vaults, but Art From the Street By LAURA M. HOLSON NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/27/technology/27mobile.html?pagewanted=print Twelve executives from the News Corporation gathered recently in a makeshift office in Barcelona to plot their newest entertainment venture. But they did not come to discuss television dramas, film or newspapers, their core businesses, but how to create entertainment for the cellphone. In what is the boldest venture yet by an established media company to insinuate itself into millions of cellphones, the News Corporation has created a mobile entertainment store called Mobizzo and a production studio to focus exclusively on developing cellphone entertainment in much the same way that 20th Century Fox creates movies and television. What they came up with seems simple: text alerts from a gossip column in a British tabloid, The Sun, and kung fu movie posters and yoga and meditation music from the Star media group in Hong Kong. But News Corporation executives hope that the store, which is to make its debut today, will capitalize on a nascent but rapidly growing appetite for video, graphics and music on cellphones. Analysts predict that the number of global mobile phone customers will double to four billion in five years. And that has spurred a wireless gold rush among media companies that, as in the early days of the Internet, do not want to be left behind. The News Corporation's service is one of the first virtual mobile shopping malls of its kind by a major media company. What makes it different from previous offerings is that it is selling directly to consumers, bypassing the exclusive arrangements common with wireless phone companies. Other companies, including MTV and more recently CBS, are seeking to tap the same market. Analysts predict that the sale of mobile phone content by entertainment concerns and others directly to users could grow to 50 percent of all wireless content purchases by 2008. Those forecasts are not lost on Lucy Hood, who is overseeing Mobizzo at the News Corporation's Fox Mobile Entertainment and Fox Mobile Studios and who began creating Mobizzo a year ago. "The question," she said, "is, How do we roll out a global mobile product? How do we share? It's a new business we are trying to conquer. We are taking an enormous risk. But these days, it's about being first." So far, Mobizzo has acquired some of its 2,000 pieces of content from the unlikeliest places: a Hollywood tattoo designer, a Chinese art collective and a Los Angeles street artist. Rupert Murdoch, the News Corporation's chief executive, is so taken with the idea, executives say, that he wants Mobizzo to be a global brand by the end of the year. That is why the executives from four of Mr. Murdoch's divisions gathered in Barcelona at the 3GSM World Congress, the world's largest mobile phone conference, attended by 50,000, most of them in gray suits. And rivals were busy, too. More than 30 employees from Viacom's MTV Networks met to discuss strategy at a corporate retreat. And companies including Time Warner and Walt Disney sent executives to explore the possibilities for music to mobile television. Nearly every speaker at the conference warned that the mobile phone and media industries were sizing each other up warily. Typically, ring tones, wallpaper, music and video have been sold through a proprietary relationship with a wireless carrier. But negotiations have been testy as entertainment companies and their mobile partners, who invested billions of dollars to update their networks for voice and video, argued over price and control. As such, the idea of a mobile storefront like Mobizzo, which will sell products directly to customers of any mobile phone service, is gaining popularity. "Every media company needs to be looking at this business now, said Angel Gambino, an MTV Networks digital media executive in Britain. "No question." Last year Fox Mobile Entertainment introduced "24: Conspiracy," a series of one-minute narratives for the mobile phone derived from the popular Fox television show "24." Its short format is now being widely imitated, and while the show was initially available only to a small audience, News Corporation executives said it got them thinking: How could Fox sell content to the widest possible mobile phone audience? "I felt like we could be competitive in this space," said Peter Chernin, the company's president. "We are not just looking to build this as a little extra money on the side for the studio. We want to build it to be a stand-alone business." Mobile phone users can log on to Mobizzo.com or enter a short numeric code on their wireless keypad. À la carte items cost $1.99 to $2.99, and the two subscription plans being offered each cost $5.99 a month. Fees are included on monthly phone bills and the News Corporation keeps much of the revenue from sales. Today, Mobizzo will be available to customers of Cingular and T-Mobile, with more wireless carriers coming in the next month. So far, the library of proprietary content from 20th Century Fox films and television shows is limited because the service is so new. And much of Mobizzo's success depends on how adept Ms. Hood is at getting her News Corporation colleagues to play along. Video will not be available for at least 12 months, she said, because most American cellphones cannot receive it. (By contrast, in Europe and Asia third-generation, video-friendly cellphones are widely available.) Initial Mobizzo offerings include screensavers and audio tones from the popular Fox animated television show "Family Guy" and a coming Fox film, "Ice Age 2: The Meltdown." There are photos and voice tones from hit cult movie "Napoleon Dynamite." And Mobizzo will sell games, as well as wallpaper from college sports teams, courtesy of Fox Sports. But Mr. Chernin did not want to limit the library to Fox's content. So in November, Fox Mobile Studios opened its doors in Beverly Hills to acquire and develop new content for Mobizzo. The marching orders were to appeal to a young audience, 13 to 24. And last Thursday, four of the studio's production executives met with Ms. Hood to discuss potential projects, some created by teenagers. "Hecter the Collecter" is a comic book sold in San Francisco bookstores and created by two teenage girls, one of them the stepdaughter of a friend of Ms. Hood's. After surveying a handout from Cliff Face Comics that outlined the "Hector the Collecter" story line of a half-man, half-giraffe, Ms. Hood asked her colleagues, "Is it worth meeting with them?" (The handout described the first story as "The Amazing Beginning of the Whole Ugliness That Started It All!") The four responded enthusiastically; it might be an interesting mobile phone series. "We can meet them after school and bring them string cheese and apples," remarked Liz Jones, vice president for content publishing. And Matt McMahon, director of content, added, "We should pursue the comic book stuff even though it won't appeal to everyone." A lot of ideas for Mobizzo come from people whom the studio's mostly young staff already know. A Los Angeles-based street artist, Shepherd Fairey, who has created a series of propaganda posters in black, gold and red, also did the poster for the 20th Century Fox film "Walk The Line." A friend of Ms. Jones created a series of hearts and sparkle wallpaper for young girls. And Ms. Jones grew interested in a celebrity tattoo artist, Mark Mahoney, after seeing a tattoo he gave her sister. "I went there four times," a producer, Ellen Dux, said of visiting Mr. Mahoney at the Shamrock Social Club, where he works in Hollywood. "We stood around the club and once he got the concept, he delivered the first tattoo art in three to four weeks." Mr. Mahoney specializes in black-and-white tattoos, which were a challenge for Mobizzo. (Black and white does not do well on a small screen.) So Mr. Mahoney agreed to draw a sketch on paper, which was digitally copied and colored by a colleague. Every idea, no matter how lowbrow, was considered worth discussing. One idea batted around on Thursday was of wallpaper images of popular bikini-clad female disc jockeys well known among young clubgoers in Las Vegas. Aaron Luber, an assistant who has his own game review section on Mobizzo called "Aaron's Arcade," was teased after he offered a series of ideas related to the disc jockeys, including ring tones of their favorite music. "Aaron, isn't that cheesy?" Ms. Jones asked. "No, people really want this stuff," he said, waving a cellphone image of a svelte blonde woman in the air. Bodily functions were popular in focus groups, too. Mr. Luber played a ring tone of Peter, the father from "Family Guy," passing gas. As he held up the phone for his colleagues to hear it, they burst into giggles. "The kids in the focus group said, 'Oh I need that,' " Ms. Jones recalled. Mr. Chernin said the News Corporation was committing tens of millions of dollars to a marketing campaign, including television, print and online advertising. And in keeping with the young spirit of Mobizzo, the company is hiring teams to promote the service at spring break in Florida and on posters tacked to fences, the same way that emerging hip-hop bands used to sell their CD's. "Were making it up as we go," Ms. Hood in Barcelona said. "We're inventing. It's not network-level production. But we'll quickly know what works and what doesn't, won't we?" ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 antunes at uh dot edu Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
