The Sports Network, Contec deliver news on-the-go

By Gabrielle Kalika

July 29, 2008

Goal

The Sports Network, a real-time sports wire service, and Contec Innovations, a mobile media network, have partnered to deliver live news, sports, finance and entertainment to mobile consumers.

Contec and The Sports Network will work together to develop mobile sports services for carriers and media properties in emerging markets starting with China and Southeast Asia. The alliance will produce real-time mobile value-added services based on the English Premiere League, the NBA, MLB and the NFL.

“We at TSN are able to provide a literal plethora of sports content in real-time fashion, something we have done for over two decades while establishing ourselves as the leaders in the field on a global basis,” said Mickey Charles, president/CEO of The Sports Network, Hatboro, PA.

“Contec has all the technology in place to take that content to market via mobile usage and bring instantaneous news, scores, statistics, photos and a great deal more to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of users in what will eventually be the world's largest marketplace: the Far East, followed closely by the Middle East,” he said.

With the initial thrust into the Middle and Far East, the primary focus is on the English Premiere League.

TSN has gone well past the traditional big six of MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA and collegiate basketball and football - the commonly most sought after North American domestic sports products of the past.

For Contec the strategy is simple.

“Our strategy is to expand the commercial availability of real-time sports content to mobile subscribers worldwide,” said Oren Friedman, vice president of marketing and business development at Contec Innovations, Vancouver, Canada. “Service providers and mobile operators have access to all of The Sports Networks content mobilized by Contec's mobile media network and can rapidly launch multi-modal rich value-added-services.

“Focusing on emerging markets, the service targets those markets where PC-based Internet penetration is low, relative to mobile, making mobile phones the preferred information device of choice for hundreds of millions of users worldwide,” he said.

The partnership eliminates the time and technical complexity typically associated with launching new content services.

Instead of having to source and license the sports content and develop the service, carriers can focus on service branding, marketing, and revenue generation strategies. 

TSN and Contec provide off-the-shelf fully mobile-enabled and integrated mobile sports service offerings, which can be deployed and monetized in a matter of weeks.

The Sports Network feeds all its content to a platform called BUZmob. 

Contec has developed sports-specific modules which take Sports Network content and mobilize it, in real time. 

Specifically, end users can access live match updates and information, news, statistics and image galleries.

Interactive features include match prediction competition, the ability for users to personalize their own mobile portal, the ability for users to send items to others via SMS, and the ability to designate and follow a favorite team.
 
Services are available as WAP, SMS or MMS, depending on the client's preference. 

BUZmob guarantees optimal delivery of content to any mobile device - be it an iPhone or a 5 year old WAP 1.0 device.

Mobile carriers can simply select their desired content channels, customize the look-and-feel of their services, choose a business model that fits their market and go live with mobile content service offerings.

The result is a variety of live sports content delivered as services that can incorporate chat and instant messaging services as well as mobile video or MMS.  Business models include mobile advertising, sponsorships and paid subscriptions.
 
Integral to this relationship will be the inclusion of XML Team Solutions, a pioneer in advanced sports data technology.

XML Team disseminates TSN's sports content exclusively to a variety of publishers requiring applications beyond typical wire service publishing or Internet branding.
The Sports Network is an  international real-time sports wire service furnishing a plethora of content on a 24/7 basis.

“The challenges encountered to date have been obvious but addressed,” Mr. Charles said. “There is the apparent necessity of language conversion.  Our EPL coverage will be in Chinese in China. 

“That similar hurdle will be approached and overcome in every country where the service will be offered, regardless of the sport sought by the populace,” he said. “Melding the technologies of two very advanced organizations such as Contec and TSN with those of the carriers while, at the same time, working with content that is sourced from external exclusive relationships with others, whether they are adding content or technology.”