RTL Belgium and Vringo Mobilize European Television Content With Strategic Alliance

NEW YORK, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- In a new alliance announced today, Vringo, the video ringtone application provider, has developed a mobile personalization platform with RTL Belgium, member of RTL Group, the leading production company for television and radio in Europe. As part of the new service, which will launch in Belgium, some of the world's largest and best-known content producers will mobilize their broadcast content using Vringo.

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This partnership enables RTL Belgium to offer Vringo's video ringtones, mobile application and social caller ID service to all 11 million mobile subscribers in Belgium.

When the service launches next month, all Belgian mobile users will have access to Vringo's collection of thousands of original video ringtones. Further, users can access Vringo's award-winning video ringtone application, available for more than 300 handsets on Android, BlackBerry, J2ME, Symbian, and Windows Mobile operating systems. By using Vringo's mobile application, users can select their own video ringtones as well as select which clips play on their buddies' phones when they call thanks to Vringo's VringForward™ technology.

To introduce users to the service, a free one-week trial offer is available to all new subscribers. Subscribers then are charged a nominal weekly fee that includes access to all Vringo features.

"As the largest entertainment provider in Belgium, it makes perfect sense for us to add video applications to mobile phones, further extending the expertise we already bring to television and radio," said Stephane Coruble, New Business Operations Director of RTL Belgium. "Partnering with Vringo gives Belgium's mobile users an exciting new way to access video applications, while improving our ability to offer outstanding products and services to our customers."

"This partnership with RTL in Belgium enables us to develop a platform that gives content producers the ability to mobilize their broadcast content in a new, exciting way in one of Europe's most important markets," said Jon Medved, CEO of Vringo. "It continues Vringo's dedication to delivering innovative applications for mobile users."

For more information about how video ringtones work, visit www.vringo.com/p_video_ringtones.html.

About Vringo

Founded in 2006, Vringo is bringing about the evolution of ringtones. With its award-winning video ringtone application, Vringo takes a sledgehammer to the traditional call signature, transforming the basic act of making and receiving mobile phone calls into a highly visual, social experience.

By installing Vringo's application, which is compatible with more than 200 handsets, users can create or take video, images and slideshows from virtually anywhere, including Vringo's library of 4,000-and-counting video ringtone clips or the Web, and make it into their personal call signature. In a first for the mobile industry, Vringo has introduced VringForward™, a technology that lets its users select which video ringtone their friends will see when they call.

Vringo is backed by Warburg Pincus and by private investors. The company has been heralded by The New York Times as "the next big thing in ringtones" and by USA Today as having "to be seen to be believed." To witness the next generation of ringtones and see a list of supported handsets, please visit http://www.vringo.com.

About RTL Belgium

RTL Belgium is the first private audio-visual group in French-speaking Belgium and is owned 66% by CLT UFA (a subsidiary of the first European audio-visual group, RTL Group) and 34% by Audiopresse (an editor association).

RTL Belgium delivers its content through three synergistic poles. The Television pole includes three channels: RTL TVI Family, a general interest TV channel; CLUB RTL, a channel addressed to different public-targets depending on programming schedules; and Plug RTL, an offering intended for a lifestyle-oriented, younger public.

The Radio pole consists of Bel RTL, a general interest station mixing information, proximity and entertainment, and Radio Contact, a station focused primarily on music.

The New Media pole brings together RTL Belgium's main website, http://www.rtlinfo.be, with all its associated brands (rtltvi.be, clubrtl.be, plugrtl.be, belrtl.be, radiocontact.be).

SOURCE Vringo