(15 February 2006 2:00 pm)

MUMBAI: MTV International is looking to boost its digital media offerings in Europe. It has the IFilm brand in Europe on mobile TV.

IFilm is an aggregator and distributor of video that features a mixture of professional and user-generated content. With the biggest library of short-form entertainment video on the Web, IFilm’s programming includes film trailers, sports clips, viral videos and innovative user-generated content.

The IFilm mobile TV channel builds on the company’s 25-year heritage of offering dynamic short-form entertainment and will be optimised for the mobile screen to give users the best viewing experience.

With mobile TV developing at a rapid pace in Europe, as one of the world’s leading content companies, with creative teams in 40 offices world-wide, MTV Networks will offer mobile TV channels combining superb local programming with global hit shows such as Pimp My Ride and Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants.

In addition to mobile video-on-demand, MTVNI currently offers 12 mobile TV channels across Europe in 10 countries showing snack-size entertainment and music content from a selection of the company’s most popular hit shows, along with made-for-mobile series. MTVNI’s expert digital production team, who ensure that content offers users the ultimate viewing experience on handsets, programmes the new mobile TV channels.

MTVNI currently offers five MTV Shorts channels that feature two to three-minute clips of hit shows, such as Cribs, Punk’d, Newlyweds and Pimp My Ride. There is also made-for-mobile programming, such as Head & Body – an eight mobisode comedy series. The channels also include MTV’s famous idents or art breaks, custom-designed packaging for users on-the-go, and clips from Sex Drive, which is part of MTV’s Emmy Award-winning HIV and AIDS prevention campaign, Staying Alive.

Two MTV Music channels bring simulcast back-to-back video hits from new and established artists, such as Coldplay, Gwen Stefani and 50 Cent, to subscribers across Europe. (In the UK, MTV Shorts is known as MTV Snax, and MTV Music is known as MTV Trax.)

Three Nickelodeon mobile TV channels in the UK, Germany and France feature shows like SpongeBob SquarePants, Rugrats, Jimmy Neutron, and Hey! Arnold. Paramount Comedy brings hits such as Frasier, Becker and The Keith Barrat Show to the mobile screen in the UK, and the Game One channel is simulcast to subscribers in France.

MTV has partnerships with 63 mobile operators globally, using its distinctive editorial voice to deliver a broad range of digital content, applications and services, including short video clips, games, ring tones, voice products on mobile, text alerts and interactive applications.

The company optimises its popular TV shows across its leading brands for digital platforms, creates new experiences based on its hit properties and develops original content for kid, youth and adult audiences. The company also enables audiences to become part of the creative process, facilitating the creation and distribution of user-generated content.