Cellcast Group to Provide 17-Country Voting Solution for SuperStar 3 in 2005

Cellcast Group to Provide 17-Country Voting Solution for SuperStar 3 in 2005

LONDON, March 22/PRNewswire/ -- The Cellcast Group today announced that for the third successive year it is to facilitate and manage voting for FremantleMedia's entertainment series SuperStar, which will be transmitted on Future TV's Lebanese-based satellite channel to the Middle East and North Africa in 2005.

The hugely popular annual quest for the Arab world's singing superstar follows a well-established interactive format, with the viewing public voting for their choice of singer by phoning or texting the show.

Cellcast will aggregate and operate interactive voice response (IVR) and SMS solutions in 17 countries within the Middle East, the Gulf States and North Africa, covering the selection process and elimination series for SuperStar 3.

"For the third year in a row, we are pioneering new solutions to manage the biggest ever audience participation in these countries," said Pascal Dufour, Business Development Director, Cellcast Middle East. "These encompass 31 GSM operators and some 17 fixed-line operators, plus all the issues arising from the lack of a pan-Arab internet backbone and various network infrastructure and technical interface constraints."

The pan-Arab version of Pop Idol has become a focus for national pride in the region. The first two series in 2003 and 2004 proved to be the most popular TV programmes in the Middle East, with each final generating over 3 million votes from participating viewers.

"SuperStar and its massive voting revenues are an excellent example of how Cellcast is working with broadcast partners to capture new telephony-based pay-to-play and pay-to-participate revenue streams that are independent of subscription income and advertising", said Andrew Wilson, Director of Business Development at the Cellcast Group.

The Cellcast Group's applications and programming are widely distributed on major channels and platforms worldwide, including Sky TV in the UK; Canal +, France 2, France 3 and M6 in France; Future TV in the Middle East; Star TV in India; and across China and South East Asia on AsiaSat 3S.

The Cellcast Group is a global leader in the provision of interactive mobile content and participation television applications in the fast-growing multi-platform digital entertainment sector. The Group directly serves both industry and consumers through leveraging TV as a contextual platform to drive new revenue streams in an environment transformed by the accelerating convergence of television, IT and telecommunications.

Source: The Cellcast Group

Contact: Pascal Dufour, telephone: +961-(0)1-374-071 email: pascalmedia@cellcastme.com

------- Profile: Ent