Saavn Brings Bollywood Ringtones and Ringback Tones to Verizon Wireless and Bollywood Music Videos, TV Shows and Movies to Verizon FiOS TV

Saavn Brings Bollywood Ringtones and Ringback Tones to Verizon Wireless and Bollywood Music Videos, TV Shows and Movies to Verizon FiOS TV

One Lucky Winner of "Verizon, Shah Rukh and YOU" Will Fly to India to Meet Bollywood Superstar, Shah Rukh Khan

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and NEW YORK, Nov. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Just in time for the holiday season, Verizon Wireless, the leading wireless company with the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network, announced today its customers can now access the hottest Bollywood Ringtones and Ringback tones on their phones. Additionally, on Verizon FiOS TV, Verizon's next generation TV service, customers can view the hottest music videos, television shows and movies from Bollywood.

Through the wireless company's relationship with Saavn, the industry leader in digital distribution of South Asian content and packages, Verizon Wireless customers can access hit music from the Indian film industry (known as "Bollywood") directly on their mobile phones. Bollywood's most anticipated theatrical release of the year, "Om Shanti Om," opens on Friday, Nov. 9, and Verizon Wireless customers can get Ringtones and Ringback tones from the film today. All the best classics and latest Bollywood Ringtones and Ringback tones are currently available, including songs from recent hit films such as "Heyy Babyy," "Kya Love Story Hai," and "Don," plus past hit albums such as "Dil Chahta Hai," "Aksar," and "Chalte Chalte."

"Verizon Wireless wants to offer a full suite of Bollywood content to our diverse customer base, enabling a depth of music to personalize their mobile phones," said Matt Schwartz, manager of music programming and business development for Verizon Wireless. "Our relationship with Saavn allows us to meet the demands of this important group of customers, offering them even more ways to express themselves with their mobile phones."

"While there seems to be an Indian restaurant in almost every town, Indian music is a little harder to find," said Vin Bhat, co-founder and general manager of Saavn. "Our relationship with Verizon Wireless makes Bollywood music from T-SERIES and other labels readily accessible to the company's millions of customers with a few clicks on a Verizon Wireless phone. The customer response has been tremendous, as people love the fact they can now enjoy the latest Bollywood Ringtones which are commonplace in India."

Through a separate agreement with Verizon FiOS TV, a leader in delivering Video on Demand, Saavn will offer FiOS TV customers access to some of the best Bollywood music videos, television shows and major motion pictures. The multi-year deal includes an opportunity for passionate Bollywood fans to subscribe monthly to current and previous music videos, television shows and movies or to purchase the titles individually.

Both Verizon Wireless and Verizon FiOS TV have a track record of bringing diverse genres of music and video to its customers. In 2004, Verizon Wireless became the first national wireless company to offer Ringback tones; since then, the company has introduced unique artist relationships with music legends and pop icons, highlighting cutting-edge music services that encourage music discovery, such as V CAST Song ID. Today, the company delivers more than 35,000 Ringtones and 32,000 Ringback tones that customers can use to personalize their phones.

Saavn and Verizon Wireless are also flying one lucky winner and a guest to India to meet Bollywood's most popular superstar, Shah Rukh Khan, with the "Verizon, Shah Rukh and YOU!" contest. The grand prize includes two roundtrip airline tickets from the United States to Mumbai for an exclusive meeting with the king of Bollywood. For more information, including rules and how to enter, please visit www.saavn.com/verizon.

Verizon Wireless customers can access Bollywood Ringtones and Ringback tones from Saavn by going to the Music & Tones menu and then browsing for the Bollywood category on VZW Tones Deluxe. Customers can also send the text message BOLLY to 3404 to get a list of available Ringtones and Ringback tones.

For more information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or visit www.verizonwireless.com.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network, serving 63.7 million customers. The largest U.S. wireless company and largest wireless data provider, based on revenues, Verizon Wireless is headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 68,000 employees nationwide. The company is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). Find more information on the Web at www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

About Verizon

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) , headquartered in New York, is a leader in delivering broadband and other wireline and wireless communication innovations to mass market, business, government and wholesale customers. Verizon Wireless operates America's most reliable wireless network, serving 63.7 million customers nationwide. Verizon's Wireline operations include Verizon Business, which delivers innovative and seamless business solutions to customers around the world, and Verizon Telecom, which brings customers the benefits of converged communications, information and entertainment services over the nation's most advanced fiber-optic network. A Dow 30 company, Verizon has a diverse workforce of nearly 238,000 and last year generated consolidated operating revenues of more than $88 billion. For more information, visit www.verizon.com.

About Saavn (www.saavn.com/mobile)

Saavn packages, markets and distributes South Asian content including "Bollywood" movies, music and television shows on digital services platforms across cable, broadband and mobile carrier platforms. Saavn is the largest distributor of South Asian digital content in the world and has exclusive content relationships with the leading movie, music and television content owners in India. Saavn has been featured on press in CNN, NY Times, LA Times, The Wall Street Journal, India Abroad, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Screen International, Forbes, Cable World and Multichannel News. Saavn is headquartered in New York, NY and is a joint venture of Hungama Mobile and 212MEDIA.

Source: Verizon Wireless

CONTACT: Media, Jeffrey Nelson of Verizon Wireless, +1-908-559-7519,
Jeffrey.Nelson@verizonwireless.com; or Rohi Pandya of Box Office Guru,
+1-212-279-2403, rpandya@boxofficeguru.com, for Saavn

Web site: http://www.verizonwireless.com/
http://www.saavn.com/verizon
http://www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia
http://www.verizon.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment