Digital Bridges To Launch Sports Illustrated Mobile Games in North America

November 2004: Digital Bridges, a world leader in the creation and distribution of mobile entertainment solutions, and SI Wireless today announced an agreement to bring Sports Illustrated, one of the world’s most recognized media and sports entertainment brands, to mobile phone gaming in North America.

Sports Illustrated, America’s leading sports publication, is read by 21 million adults each week, more than any other men’s publication. The Sports Illustrated brand extends beyond print titles to bring the best in sports information and entertainment to a variety of products and platforms, led by the SI.com website.

Digital Bridges is working with SI Wireless via Time Inc. Brand Licensing to now bring this hugely successful brand to cell phone gaming via the development and publishing of a range of Sports Illustrated mobile titles. The first title will launch in December and will be the first ever network-connected U.S. football trivia quiz game.

Players will be able to buy or sign up to the game on a subscription basis, where the game will be updated with new question packs monthly. The connected features of the game will enable players to post and view high-scores on WAP and web-based leader boards via dedicated Sports Illustrated-branded microsites, and challenge friends to see who gets the highest score. Digital Bridges will also assist wireless network carriers in organising tournaments around the game, offering a variety of prizes to football trivia champs across the nation.

The Sports Illustrated mobile titles, which will extend to other sports and gameplay genres, will be available across a wide range of Java- and BREW-enabled cell phones, and distributed by all major wireless network carriers in North America.

Said Paul Maglione, Senior Vice President of Publishing and Marketing for Digital Bridges, “We are delighted to be working with Time Inc. on this exciting opportunity. Sports is a proven winner in mobile, and sports brands don’t come much bigger and more respected than Sports Illustrated, so we are very much looking forward to building these titles up to constitute a dominant franchise on the North American mobile gaming scene.”

“Sports Illustrated sees wireless and gaming as important growth areas in the coming years,” said Jeff Price, VP/Chief Marketing Officer at SI. “Digital Bridges is a leader in mobile content distribution and we look forward to a great partnership.”

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