Mobile TV gets celebrity boost from E! and Buongiorno!

Celebrity news from the E! International Network is hitting mobile devices. In a partnership with Buongiorno!Digital UK and Comcast, the deal is part of the E! Everywhere programme to get celebrity content onto every platform imaginable.

Who are the players?

E! is a network subsidiary of Comcast, and focuses almost entirely on celebrity news and updates. It’s been operational since the late 80s, and is actually a pretty damn massive TV network. It has an American viewership of 80 million, and it claims to reach over 600 million homes outside of the US. So international deals are important to E!

Buongiorno!Digital (B!Digital) is a joint-venture between mobile content creator Buongiorno, and a Japanese trading house called Mitsui. It is an advertiser and marketer that works over both mobile and on-line internet.

What’s the deal?

B!Digital UK And Comcast have signed an agreement to launch E! Online on Mobile for European smartphone owners. It will based around a series of mobile websites, one each for the UK, France, Italy and Germany. Visitors to the site will be able to access all the kind of content you expect from E! – gossip, music and movie reviews, red carpet coverage… all the usual nonsense (apologies to those who like celebrity gossip). Alongside the mobile website, there will be an iPhone developed that will provide all the same content.

And, in a smart coda to the deal, B!Digital has set itself up as the exclusive advertising agent for all those assets.

What we think?

After something of a lull early last year, mobile TV and video is coming back in a massive way. We’re seeing new deals emerging, and existing mobile TV properties are getting more popular. The iPhone app for Britains Got Talent hit the top of the download charts recently, and independent movie and mobile companies are getting involved – like yesterdays deal between horror/sci-fi studio IIC and mobile movie company Mobilefilmworks.

But more importantly than any of these are the large TV companies that are starting to move into mobile. E! is just the tip of the iceberg. In April, four massive network TV conglomerates in the US announced a partnership called Pearl Mobile DTV. 12 TV networks in total announced their intention to create a true Mobile Digital TV service, combining scheduled and on-demand programming.

This is what really gives me faith that mobile TV will become a lasting and powerful player. Independent companies can only do so much on their own – but when the big players stoop to conquer, you know things are really going to get going.