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AG Interactive and SI Mobile Score Triple Play with SI Swimsuit Content for Mobile Devices, Instant Messaging and Online PlatformsSAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment, Booth# 1609 -- AG Interactive, the new media subsidiary of American Greetings Corporation , and SI Mobile, Sports Illustrated's wireless media group, today announced a multi-year, exclusive partnership to develop and distribute premium content from the magazine's famed Swimsuit Issue through AG Interactive and SI-branded mobile, Instant Messaging and online channels. The partners will begin rolling out products internationally including Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Latin America in Q4 2005. AG Interactive and Sports Illustrated will produce a broad range of personalization, entertainment, information, and communication products for IP-based applications and devices including mobile phones, PDAs, computers and home entertainment networks. Products will include video ringtones, wallpapers, videos, eGreetings and evites, as well as instant messaging content including emoticons, avatars, winks, skins and backgrounds. AG Interactive will create and launch a Sports Illustrated-branded website, WAP deck, BREW(TM) and J2ME applications. Additionally, the partners will launch the first Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Video channel for mobile phones featuring profiles of SI Swimsuit models, behind-the-scenes and the 'Making of ' footage, as well as historical retrospectives spanning the full 40-year history. American Greetings also manufactures and distributes the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit calendar. The content from the calendar will also be made available across Sports Illustrated's mobile, Instant Messaging and online channels including PSMS short codes on the desktop and wall calendars distributed through AGI's retail channels nationwide. The new content will be available through AGI's direct-to-consumer channels (mobile, online, IM) as well as various partner channels. Mobile channels will include wireless carriers, univisionmovil.com, defjammobile.com, MIDIringtones, Kiwee, and Sports Illustrated-branded channels. The following web platforms will also offer the new content: Americangreetings.com, Bluemountain.com, Egreetings.com, Univision.com, Yahoo (TM) Greetings, MSN Greetings, AOL Greetings, EarthLink, and MSN Messenger 7.0. "Sports Illustrated is the premier sports brand and SI Swimsuit is a renowned entertainment brand," stated Bryan Biniak, senior vice president, AG Interactive. "We are enthusiastic about our collaborative efforts with SI to create some of the most innovative cross platform entertainment products in the consumer market." "AG Interactive's unparalleled distribution channels, content production capabilities and marketing expertise drove our decision to partner with them," said Jeff Price, vice president and chief marketing officer, Sports Illustrated. "Our partnership with AG Interactive will help us make our content available to our loyal subscribers and millions of new fans who use the latest communications tools like mobile devices and Instant Messaging." About SI SI is a multimedia sports brand that takes the consumer into the heart and soul of sports. The SI franchise is anchored by Sports Illustrated, the most respected voice in sports journalism which reaches a weekly audience of more than 20 million adults, and SI.com, the magazine's 24/7 sports news website that delivers more than 150 original stories to its users each week. The SI franchise also includes Sports Illustrated For Kids (sikids.com), a monthly magazine targeted to kids age 8 and up; Sports Illustrated On Campus (si.com/sioc), a weekly chronicling college sports and the college sports lifestyle delivered to more than one million students through their campus newspapers; SI Presents the magazine's specialty publishing division; as well as SI Books, SI Pictures, SI Productions, SI Mobile and SI Events. Founded in 1954, SI is a division of Time Inc., the world's leading magazine publishing company and a subsidiary of Time Warner. About AG Interactive AG Interactive is a worldwide leader in online, instant messaging, mobile expressions and entertainment. The online group, AG.com, offers over 20,000 premium quality greetings and other types of expressive content through its popular websites including AmericanGreetings.com, BlueMountain.com, BlueMountainCards.co.uk, and egreetings.com, as well as co-branded greetings sites with leading portals. Collectively, the AG Interactive online sites represent the largest online greeting card destination in the world, attracting over two million paying subscribers and millions of unique visitors every month. The mobile services group, AGmobile, is a leader in mobile content creation, distribution and marketing. It offers consumers a broad set of wireless and multi-media expressions and entertainment including ringtones, graphics, video and games. Through its mobile properties, including defjammobile.com, univisionmovil.com, MIDIRingtones, Blue Mountain Mobile and Kiwee, AGmobile creates and distributes innovative content to mobile phone users through 25 wireless carriers in over ten countries and in multiple languages. By leveraging the world's largest digital library of award-winning expressive content and premium licensed content along with an unrivaled international distribution capability, AG Interactive offers consumers and business partners the premier online and mobile services available today. AG Interactive is a subsidiary of American Greetings Corporation , one of the world's leading manufacturers of social expression products, generating annual net sales of approximately $2 billion. For more information, please visit http://www.interactive.ag.com/ . Media Contacts: Breakaway Communications for AG Interactive Pamela Preston Alicia Mickelsen 212.590.2554 (o) 212.590.2557 (o) 917.575.5830 (m) 973.229.9972 (m) [email protected] [email protected] Sports Illustrated Rick McCabe 212.522.1375 (o) 914.525.0899 (m) [email protected] QUALCOMM and BREW are registered trademarks of QUALCOMM Incorporated. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. AG Interactive CONTACT: Pamela Preston, +1-212-590-2554, or mobile, +1-917-575-5830,[email protected], or Alicia Mickelsen, +1-212-590-2557, or mobile,+1-973-229-9972, [email protected], both of Breakaway Communications forAG Interactive; or Rick McCabe, +1-212-522-1375, or mobile, +1-914-525-0899,[email protected], of Sports Illustrated Web site: http://www.interactive.ag.com/ |