O2 launch Soccer Addicts for 2.5G and 3G handsets

December 19, 2005

O2 and Buongiorno team up to launch Soccer Addicts, the world's first mobile sports talk show, as an exclusive for O2's 2.5G and 3G customers in the UK. The new interactive audio-video format has been created by Buongiorno to exploit the audio and video capabilities of mobile technology. Soccer Addicts creates a forum for fans, celebrities, and sports stars to interact in the same show, developing an audio-video mobile community of football fans.

The four minute weekly show incorporates studio footage, location interviews and, most importantly, video, picture, and text contributions from football fans. Following a TV approach, Soccer Addicts will run in a series format, with Series 1 being hosted by Neil (Razor) Ruddock. Neil is well known as a player for a number of Premiership teams, and his recent time on the show 'I'm a Celebrity get me out of here'.

Users can interact about recent matches, players' performances and club expectations by sending in video clips of their comments and opinions. Fans have the chance to see their clips sitting alongside video comments from their sporting idols and TV presenters.

A number of related mobile services will also be made available in Soccer Addicts: alerts, wallpapers, ringtones, club chants, and video footage. These are part of Buongiorno's high quality, comprehensive catalogue comprising over 250,000 services and licensed items of content.

The mobile TV market, now in its first phase, is forecasted to grow exponentially, and profits for 2011 are estimated at Euro 6.8 billion.

James Parton, Head of Music, TV & Video Products at O2, comments: "Soccer Addicts is a unique content service in terms of the breadth of audience participation and innovation. We are pleased to partner with Buongiorno to offer our customers a truly innovative mobile experience that drives mobile content in new and exciting directions"

"We are truly excited about this latest initiative with O2 to launch such an innovative product. Soccer Addicts is an interesting challenge, as it is the first example of a new generation of audio/video products created for mobiles. It is created to guarantee entertainment and, at the same time, fulfil the desire to fans to participate be in the limelight of football," said Burton Katz, President of Buongiorno US and UK. "Furthermore, the agreement strengthens our long-time partnership with Europe's leading mobile operator for VAS, following the positive results reached with other initiatives like O2 Extras."

The first Soccer Addicts show will be going live on 19th December, 2005. It is available to download or stream to mobile phones for the entire week, with a new show going live every following Monday.