Inspiring and connecting consumers all over the world

NEWSLETTER SIGNUP
Enter your email address:

May 22, 2008
Live Current Media Inc. and netlinkblue Partner to Integrate Live Streaming Video and Mobile Access into Official IPL Destination


IPLT20.com Website Now Includes all Digital Assets to Offer Cricket Fans Rich User Experience

 

VANCOUVER, BC and DUBAI, UAE – May 22, 2008 – Communicate.com Inc., dba Live Current Media Inc. (OTCBB: CMNN), a media company built around content and commerce destinations, today announced a partnership with netlinkblue, a multinational provider of end-to-end consulting, technology and outsourcing solutions for IT and business consulting services to integrate streaming video and mobile access into www.IPLT20.com, the official site of the DLF Indian Premier League. Content and distribution rights independently secured by each company are now available at one single online destination, maximizing the opportunities for users to interact with the action. The official DLF Indian Premier League site now offers fans live streaming video and mobile content, the richest live scoreboard available online, official IPL photographs, ball by ball commentary, player interviews, profiles, schedules, statistics and fan interaction capabilities such as fantasy cricket, polls and newsletters.

 

The original ten-year Memorandum of Understanding between Live Current, the BCCI and the DLF Indian Premier League has been expanded to include the online and mobile live video streaming rights secured by netlinkblue – important components to any cricket fan experience.  The pay-for-play rights for live and on-demand streaming video are now available at www.IPLT20.com (some geographic market limitations exist due to prior broadcast commitments[1]). The majority of the content on the site remains accessible to any user for free from anywhere in the world; this partnership enables fans to truly have one single point of access for everything they want to know about the DLF Indian Premier League.

 

Online and mobile streaming video is becoming an increasingly popular medium as video-enabled mobile devices and faster broadband Internet speeds enable a “second screen” experience for users to interact with live action any time, from any location that fits their needs. For instance, the population of mobile and broadband Internet users in India is expected to increase rapidly over the next five years, largely supported by India’s Ministry of Communications plan[2] to offer cost effective and accessible high speed and mobile connections. Likewise, as video content will be both live and archival, passionate cricket fans in all time zones on all continents now have access to rich, immersive action via streaming video capabilities.

 

The IPLT20.com destination has received significant traffic and user engagement within the initial few weeks of the DLF Indian Premier League season.  Like the television broadcast partners that have seen incredibly strong ratings, the official website has been a resounding success with fans. The site received over 30 million page views within the first month of launch from a truly global audience. Visitors from India, the United Sates, Australia, the UK, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates and Canada to name a few of the leading traffic sources have chosen IPLT20.com as their online destination of choice to interact with the league.

 

“Live Current and netlinkblue share a common vision of delivering premium experiences to consumers, extending any one-way viewing experience into an interactive, fully immersive realm,” says Geoffrey Hampson, CEO and Chairman of Live Current Media Inc. “The first few weeks of the inaugural DLF Indian Premier League season have already displayed the power of a passionate fan base with the IPLT20.com site already ranking within the top 500 most highly trafficked sites in the world. Now with video and mobile capabilities integrated, the ways in which fans can interact with the Indian Premier League present even more opportunity to get closer to the game.”

 

Lalit Modi, Chairman & Commissioner, DLF Indian Premier League, said, “A high element of interactivity, combined with a true stadium experience is what has helped boost the popularity of the www.IPLT20.com site. I am happy that this alliance between Live Current and netlinkblue will further significantly enhance the user experience providing fans globally with a direct window to the on-field action through next generation technologies.”

 

Commenting on the combined DLF Indian Premier League digital content rights, Mr. Akash OP Aurora, CEO & Chief Technical Architect, netlinkblue, said: “Cricketing action is a big draw for television viewers and with the emergence of new media technologies we can take the experience to the viewer’s office, home and mobile devices. Its appeal cuts across all segments of viewers irrespective of age, gender or nationality.”

 

Live Current will continue to develop relationships with organizations in cricket nations globally to build the www.cricket.com destination which is expected to officially launch by August 2008.

 

About Live Current Media Inc.

 

Communicate.com Inc. is doing business as "Live Current Media Inc." and will seek formal shareholder approval to change its legal name to Live Current Media Inc. later in 2008.

 

Live Current builds, owns and operates some of the most powerful and engaging content and commerce destinations on the Internet. Through subject-specific DestinationHubs™, Live Current properties connect people to each other and to the information, brands, and products they are passionate about. Live Current has headquarters in Vancouver, Canada with a location in Seattle, WA and is publicly traded on the NASD OTCBB (CMNN). For more information, visit www.livecurrent.com.

 

About netlinkblue

 

netlinkblue is a leading consulting, technology and outsourcing services firm, which helps global clients plan, implement & maintain their technology & digital marketing investments, which in turn drives competitive advantage and improves business performance.

 

Services span across eight business divisions: interactive and ebrand management; internet troubleshooting services; online photography management and printing services; website development and maintenance services; an animation powerhouse building world class animated films, television shows, computer & console games; outsourcing / I.T. enabled services, software development & CRM solutions across multiple locations and time zones; radio frequency identification (RDIF) solutions and enterprise-wide technology solutions to build and enable infrastructure.  netlinkblue has headquarters in Mumbai, India and Dubai, UAE. For more information, visit  www.netlinkblue.com

 

About the DLF Indian Premier League

 

The inaugural season of the DLF Indian Premier League kicked off on April 18th 2008, with some high voltage action between Shah Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders and Dr. Vijay Mallya’s Bangalore Royal Challengers. The opening game itself saw Kiwi & Kolkata Knight Riders stumper Brendon McCullum set the stage alight with a world record 158 runs, the highest ever individual score in a Twenty20 game. Since then records have been tumbling in the inaugural season of the DLF Indian Premier League, with as many as three hat-tricks and a number of quickfire centuries. All of which has kept the global audience coming back for more.

 

As of May 20th 2008, the Rajasthan Royals lead the league table standings with 18 points from eleven games and are followed by the Kings XI Punjab from Mohali who are on 14 points from ten games. The Chennai Super Kings are in third place with the Mumbai Indians in fourth place.

 

Safe Harbor: Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although Communicate.com Inc. d.b.a Live Current Media Inc. believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions; it can give no assurance that its expectations will be attained. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include financial performance, regulatory changes, changes in economic conditions and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views as of the date of this press release. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

 

1 Live online streaming video on IPLT20.com is currently blocked in the US, UK, South Africa and New Zealand.
2 India aims to have 500 million mobile phone subscriptions, having 85 percent of the country covered by a mobile network, mobile penetration rate of 90 percent and 80 million mobile connections in rural areas by 2010. (Ministry of Communications, India)

 

Media Contacts:

Live Current Media Inc.

Becky Porter

Director, Corporate Communications

(206) 713-7959

becky@livecurrent.com

 

netlinkblue

Gemma McKeown

Marketing Director

+971 50 2129921

Gemma.mckeown@engworldwide.com

 

DLF Indian Premier League

Percy Dubash

Adfactors Public Relations

+ 91-98-202 21792

 

  | BACK >


Copyright ©2008 | Contact Us
Live Current Media Inc. 375 Water Street, Suite 645, Vancouver, BC V6B 5C6