Magazine publisher IPC tx is to provide a mobile platform for its Whats On TV magazine, following an agreement with mobile technology provider Filmnight Digitial and search engine and content specialist TV Genius.
Whats On TV is the UKs best-selling magazine, providing over 4 million readers a week with a mix of TV features, entertainment news, competitions and TV listings. The new agreement sees IPC tx license the TV Listings Mobile Engine from TV Genius to drive its mobile service for the magazine, including a full search facility, and SMS alerts. Filmnight Digital will also be responsible for the design, creation, hosting and day-to-day management of the new offering.
From September, users will be able to activate the service to access free content from Whats On TV (though there is an Internet add-on cost for 3 subscribers to access off portal sites, including the Whats on TV site.
By integrating the Mobile Engine from TV Genius with Filmnights content management and mobile publishing tool, Whats On TV will deliver daily content from the magazine to users mobiles. This will include TV listings, entertainment news, mobile downloads and watch-list favourites. Users will be able to set up a personalised guide for TV listings and arrange an SMS alert for future soap plotlines, and for the latest gossip and programme reminders – so that they never miss their favourite shows.
We develop products for the discovery of TV content says TV Genius CEO Tom Weiss. Our mobile-ready EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) feed, including full text searching and reminders have been integrated with IPC txs content publishing programme. We are looking forward to developing this service to deliver a range of additional content for Whats on TV over the coming months.
For Filmnight Digital, Head of Mobile David McDonald adds:
Mobile information services are becoming increasingly popular, so it seems a natural progression to take the strong and trusted brand of Whats on TV onto mobile. Working closely with TV Genius and IPC tx, and drawing on our extensive experience in mobile retailing and packaging, we will ensure that we deliver a reliable and robust service to the end user.