UPDATE MOBILE WORLD:Omnifone Launches Broadband Music Service
February 17 2009 - 3:27AM
Dow Jones News
U.K.-based Omnifone Monday said it had partnered with Internet
service providers to launch a service giving broadband users
unlimited, legal access to music on a range of platforms, including
television set-top boxes.
Chief executive Rob Lewis told Dow Jones Newswires that the
company is in advanced talks with British Sky Broadcasting PLC
(BSY.LN) to offer the service, and the company is in talks with
numerous other ISPs as well.
Omnifone said it has international licensing agreements in place
for unlimited music downloads or streaming with all four major
music labels and thousands of independent labels.
"Tens of millions of European consumers are engaged in music
piracy every day. Whilst government pressure is growing, we also
need to deliver alternatives that recognize the needs and desires
of the YouTube generation," said Omnifone Lewis in a statement.
Lewis said that ISPs in countries where there is significant
pressure to solve piracy issues are showing the most interest.
"Clearly the European Union countries are one of those
territories," he said, but also in the U.S. there is a groundswell
of pressure to solve the piracy problem. MusicStation Next
Generation-powered services are expected to be bundled with monthly
subscriber plans, as well as being offered to existing subscribers
on a pay-as-you-go basis.
The four major record labels are Vivendi's (12777.FR) Universal
Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI and Warner Music
Group (WMG).
Omnifone provides the MusicStation download service to Vodafone
Group PLC (VOD).
MusicStation Next Generation will be predominantly an in-home
service but each month subscribers can retain a clutch of their
favorite tracks which can be downloaded and played on portable
music players.
News Corp. (NWS), which owns about 39% of BSkyB, also owns Dow
Jones, publisher of this newswire.
Company Web site: www.omnifone.com
-By Adrian Kerr and Kathy Sandler, Dow Jones Newswires;
adrian.kerr@dowjones.com; +44 207 842 9309