Cell phone entertainment company mSpot Inc. announced a new deal this morning that will put 100 CBS radio stations on AT&T cell phones. The new service lets listeners get recommended music, create their own personalized stations, as well as information on the artists. mSpot says it provides the service to over 4 million cell phone users. mSpot's network includes not only AT&T but Sprint and several other smaller cell phne companies as well.
Here is the complete Business Wire press release
mSpot, Inc., a mobile music and entertainment company, announces today a deal with CBS RADIO and Last.fm that will add over 100 live local radio stations across the U.S. and the Last.fm personalized radio service to mSpot’s expansive mobile radio line-up. The new offering gives AT&T Wireless customers access to one of the most customized listening and entertainment experience in the market, combining the best of personalized radio; local music, sports, news and talk radio stations; and commercial-free music choices.
“We are thrilled to work with CBS to deliver some of the best programming available on the radio to our mobile customers,” said mSpot CEO Daren Tsui. “Rapid handset and network improvements have fueled consumer demand for mobile radio, and this partnership allows us to deliver an even better range of music and talk options to our customers.”
As a premiere mobile music and entertainment company, mSpot services in excess of 4 million mobile users in North America. Among the stations licensed by CBS RADIO are KROQ-FM (Los Angeles, Calif.), WFAN-AM (New York, N.Y.), and WXRT-FM (Chicago, Ill.). Through Last.fm, users will be able to listen to recommended music, create their own stations, and access artist bios. mSpot’s radio applications allow customers to browse content, skip through songs on select stations, access recently-played stations, and bookmark favorite stations.
“Mobile platforms are beginning to provide engaging listening and music discovery experiences for users looking to enjoy music anytime and anywhere,” said Jeff Sellinger, Executive Vice President & General Manager, CBS Mobile. “Working with mSpot provides us with an opportunity to expand our CBS Radio and Last.fm distribution to handsets that we might not otherwise reach.”
mSpot’s radio network currently spans across AT&T, Sprint, Bell Mobility, Telus, and U.S. Cellular. In total, mSpot has over 100 commercial-free music channels, over 200 local stations, and over 30 stations of talk content from popular media firms including ABC, Fox Sports, NPR, Disney, SportingNews, MarketWatch, PRI, AccuWeather and Traffic.com.
According to market forecasts from Deloitte, 2009 will be a big year for online radio: a recent report projects up to 20 percent growth in terms of audience. mSpot has completed over 500 ports to mobile phones supported across 10 North American carriers and in 2008 saw its subscriber base increase to over four million customers – a remarkable 260% jump since 2007.
About CBS RADIO
CBS RADIO, one of the largest major-market operators in the United States and the No. 1 most listened to online radio service, offers stations covering news, sports, talk, rock, oldies, country, adult contemporary and urban formats, among others. CBS RADIO operates 134 radio stations across the United States and offers audiences an enhanced and customized listening experience through the combination of on-air, online and new media platforms. A division of CBS, CBS RADIO has embraced interactive programming through the use of streaming, HD Radio, podcasts and mobile messaging, and maintains exclusive agreements with AOL and Yahoo through which CBS RADIO powers AOL Radio and LAUNCHcast, respectively, and distributes its stations to their network of listeners. For more information on CBS RADIO, please visit www.cbsradio.com.
About Last.fm
Founded in 2002 in London, Last.fm is the online, social music revolution that connects people with music and artists with listeners. By joining the Last.fm community, music fans can choose to share their music preferences by linking their media player to the Last.fm database. This database is populated continually with over 600 million monthly track submissions from Last.fm music fans. As a result, Last.fm can intelligently recommend songs, artists, local concerts and even other members based on their musical tastes. Thanks to partnerships with EMI, Warner Music Group, Sony BMG, CD Baby, independent aggregators The Orchard and IODA, and more than 100,000 independent musicians and 20,000 labels that upload music directly to the site, Last.fm can draw recommendations from one of the most extensive online music catalogues. Learn more about Last.fm at www.last.fm.
About mSpot
mSpot is a mobile music and entertainment company that services more than four million customers across 10 wireless carriers. mSpot helps consumers access music, custom ringtones, live radio and videos from major music labels, movie studios and top brands including CBS Radio, Last.fm, ABC, ClearChannel, Fox Sports, Sony Music Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, Warner Brothers, Universal Music Group and Disney. In the U.S., mSpot entertainment services are available through Alltel, AT&T, Boost, Metro PCS, nTelos, Sprint, U.S. Cellular and Verizon; in Canada through Bell Mobility and TELUS. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, mSpot is on the Web at mSpot.com.