Singapore, 19 June 2007 – CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, is expanding further in the Asia Pacific region with the launch of a brand new suite of mobile services, comprising of CNBC WAP and SMS products.
"The launch of our new suite of mobile products enhances the availability of CNBC's real time, LIVE business and financial news for our elite target audience, the C-Suites, High Net Worth individuals and Financial Professionals, anytime, anywhere, and on any platform," said Alan Seiffert, Senior Vice President, Business Development and Partnerships, CNBC Asia Pacific. "This is part of CNBC's continuing efforts to find the best solutions for our customers, and why we continue to be the first choice for business news in Asia and worldwide."
CNBC Mobile will be offering two types of WAP packages: a basic WAP package, and a premium WAP service. The basic package will offer consumers breaking business news headlines, management insights from top CEOs in the region, commentaries on pertinent issues by CNBC reporters and anchors, as well as selected video clips of some of CNBC's specially produced series. This package is offered through operators, as well as accessible free of charge by consumers through the WAP portal on the mobile browsers.
The Premium WAP service, available through operators, as well as via subscription, offers specialized content, including Country Briefings (including top business stories relevant to the country), financial market updates, special segments from "CNBC's Cash Flow," business outlook for the week ahead, management insights as well as an update of the top gainers and losers of the day, listed for the specific countries.
Subscribers will also be able to access the CNBC SMS Alerts for the latest breaking business headlines, financial market updates, specific Country Briefings, including top gainers and losers, breaking headlines from "CNBC's Cash Flow," the business outlook for the week ahead, as well as management insights.
"While many content providers have moved away from text services and WAP offerings, CNBC sees lucrative revenue opportunities through text based products and 2G based services, in maximizing the reach of our content," Seiffert continues. "Upon launch, we will be offering these services to operators and subscribers in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, China and Malaysia, and we will be looking at opening up new markets in the coming future. Taken together, these new offerings and our expanded 3 G offerings offer a complete solution to customers."
"CNBC will be able to tailor make our packages and offer these services to mobile operators and handset manufacturers across the region," Seiffert said. "End consumers are also able to subscribe directly to the content, through our WAP portal, asia.cnbc.com."
CNBC has already signed up Nokia and StarHub as partners for the distribution of the new suite of products. CNBC is the sole news content provider on the Nokia Content Discoverer (NCD) platform, embedded in over 20 models of Nokia devices accessible all over the region. CNBC has also signed a deal with StarHub, who will be the only operator in Singapore that will provide the all-inclusive CNBC Live Streaming, VOD, WAP and SMS content. These services will be available on StarHub's Gee WAP portal.
"We are excited with the launch of our suite of mobile products, as it allows us to reach our audiences anytime, anywhere, and offers a variety of opportunities for us to work with mobile operators and handset manufacturers within the Asia Pacific," Seiffert concludes. "We look forward to growing our range of products, and to developing more opportunities and partnerships in the region."
About CNBC Asia Pacific
CNBC Asia Pacific is uniquely positioned to speak to viewers from across the region. Headquartered in Singapore, the network provides eight hours of live Asia-produced programming, which is complemented with coverage of live market action from Europe and the US. CNBC Asia Pacific's channels, which include CNBC Asia, CNBC-TV18 (India), CNBC Pakistan, Nikkei-CNBC (Japan) are available in more than 21 countries across the Asia Pacific region. CNBC also has a strategic alliance with China Business Network, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Shanghai Media Group, and a partnership with Digital Chosun, an entity of Chosun Daily Group of Companies, the premier multiplatform media conglomerate in Korea. The channels are distributed via satellite, cable and terrestrial broadcast networks, as well as broadband, on www.cnbc.com. CNBC content is also distributed on mobile platforms through selective markets.
For more information, please visit us at www.asia.cnbc.com.
CNBC is 100% owned and managed by NBC Universal, which is the broadcasting unit of GE, the ‘World's Most Admired' company in FORTUNE magazine's annual poll of executives (March 2007).
