Alliance for mobile TV in Germany: MFD and NEVA Media declare their cooperation

Alliance to create platform for mobile TV – backed by companies like Hubert Burda Media, Holtzbrinck and Naspers

COLOGNE/BERLIN — MFD Mobiles Fernesehen Deutschland and NEVA Media agreed today on the creation of a joint venture [Mobile 3.0] that will introduce mobile television in Germany. The erstwhile competitors for broadcast licenses want to use this alliance to secure the introduction of mobile TV over the broadcast standard DVB-H.

Three big companies stand behind the two mobile TV specialists: The publishing houses Hubert Burda Media and Holtzbrink are involved with NEVA Media, and the internationally active media and technology corporation Naspers has climbed aboard as a strategic investor with MFD Mobiles Fernsehen Deutschland. All of the partners of MFD Mobiles Fernsehen Deutschland and NEVA Media have already agreed to the companies’ cooperation.

A decisive factor will be their combined media and technology expertise combined with the concurrent independence of the new joint venture. Dr. Paul- Bernhard Kallen, director of Technology & Treasury at Hubert Burda Media: “The joint venture should be understood as a neutral platform operator whose services will be available to all program providers and telecommunications businesses.” The goal of both companies is the quick and successful introduction of the DVB-H standard. “Together, we intend to successfully start mobile TV via DVB-H at the latest by the 2008 European Championships,” so Henrik Rinnert, Managing Director of MFD Mobiles Fernsehen Deutschland.

“Our cooperation gives us tremendous benefits for the construction of mobile TV in Germany,” emphasizes Paulus Neef, managing director of the NEVA Media GmbH. “Expertise and reliability in platform operations are strengthened by this cooperation just as much as the variety of the provided content.”

The companies have already applied for the licenses needed to operate the platforms. Already in the spring of 2007, the national media institutions announced the broadcasting licenses for broadcasting mobile TV via DVB-H. The awarding of the licenses is still expected over the course of the year.