Manchester United Open For Serious Business

Manchester United Open For Serious Business

LONDON, July 11/PRNewswire/ --

- Manchester United Sign Serious DVD Cardz For Another Year

It's summertime and the heat is not only on the streets, but in the press too, with daily speculation about transfers throughout the world of professional football. Today Serious; official licensees of Manchester United and the worldwide publishers of CD & DVD Cardz(TM) for the NBA and NFL, announced that its highly anticipated Manchester United DVD Cardz 2006 Collection will be launched nationwide in stores in September. This release will coincide with the start of the new Premiership season, when Manchester United will begin their quest for a record ninth Premiership crown. To reflect this, the new collection will include the two most exciting players in world football today; meteoric stars, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as the heart and soul of Man Utd; veteran power houses, Ryan Giggs and Roy Keane.

The twenty-four cardz set is an expanded sequel to last year's debut release of ten first-team player cardz and features not only a brand new design, but dynamic content taken from the 2004-5 season. The new set will be available in a series format, designed to be collected on a weekly basis and retailing at an RRP of 4.99 pounds Sterling per issue. Each card is bound within an exclusive player-specific publication, which is additionally packed with editorial and superlative Manchester United information and imagery. Kick off at retail is in September, running until February 2006, with the first issue staying on shelves for two weeks. This will also come with a free collector album.

"By releasing our 2006 collection across twenty-four weeks, we will be able to react to key events on the pitch and thus build in topical content and footage," explained David Brown Chairman and CEO, Serious. "That way we can generate even more interest in this cool digital merchandise and bring true consumer value to Reds fans."

"Manchester United was the first football club to ever license DVD Cardz," commented Mark Hargreaves, General Manager, Manchester United Interactive "and with so much great content available, we are delighted to see this second season collection roll out in an expanded and developed format, further establishing our global brand as an innovative and visionary market leader."

Each rectangular Card represents an individual athlete, in the same vein as a trading card, but is also a superb, interactive DVD. The cardz are filled to capacity with brilliant video highlights from the 2005 season, as well as career and biographical information, strategy games and trivia. They work in PS2 and Xbox, as well as being standard DVD player and DVD ROM drive compatible.

Serious was founded in Soho, London in 1997 as a music production facility for film, television and multi-media, with a state of the art digital recording studio and interactive design department. Commissions included music and sound effects for TV and several West End productions, in addition to music for the trailer to the PolyGram/Working Title film 'Notting Hill.' In 2000, taking advantage of its in-house creative and technical capabilities, Serious launched its CD and DVD Cardz(TM) technology and subsequently has opened offices in New York and Singapore. In addition to its current partners of Manchester United FC, Arsenal FC, the NFL and NBA, Serious has produced custom CD Cardz for New Line Cinema (The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers), Warner Brothers (The Matrix - Reloaded), NPG Records (Prince Fan Club Card), Campbell's and THE INDY 500(R), winning the CD-ROM/DVD-ROM category of the LACP Spotlight Awards in 2004 for its ESPN 25th Anniversary Card.

Source: Serious

Kathy Heslop, Director of Promotions, +1-212-696-5585, kathy@serious.com

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