Hungama Brings Vh1 On The Mobile

Hungama Mobile has partnered with international music and entertainment channel, Vh1, to offer a dial-in music service on Airtel's mobile network. The service is being called Vh1 Radio Gaga and will be available to the consumers on the short code 55841.

The service will offer music across four categories- Vh1 Top 10, Vh1 Hip Hop Hustle, Vh1 Rock Rules and Vh1 Classic. The service will be charged at Rs 2 per day subscription and at 3 paise per second browsing rate.

Commenting on the service, Albert Almeida, COO, Hungama Mobile, said, "Historically international music has not been promoted as heavily as other genres of music content. In spite of this consumption of International music on mobile constitutes 5-7 per cent of the overall music. This number has largely been on the back of growing interest among the young upwardly mobile audiences who have actively sought this content. With the VH1 Radio Gaga service and the powerful reach of Airtel there is no better way to grow this genre of music and Hungama is committed to doing just this by powering this service via its platform and content."

Ferzad Palia, channel head – Vh1 India said, "Through 'Vh1 Radio Gaga', Airtel subscribers can tune to their favourite song and enjoy the best of Vh1 music on the run!"

What kind of content will be there for listeners is yet to be seen or rather heard. Vh1 is really popular channel among youngsters and has stuck to international music when others like MTV and Channel [V] have transformed themselves into local music channels with a fair mix of youth centric reality shows.

Nevertheless, it would provide an additional entertainment option on the go. We will update you on how the service gains traction.

Last month, 9XM, a Bollywood music channel had launched an online music store called '9XM.Hungama.com' in partnership with Hungama.com. The store allows users to sample, select and download Bollywood songs (and movie trailers) from a catalogue of more than 1,00,000 songs across different genres.

Oflate, Hungama has been revving up its digital properties through partnerships, first with Opera Software ASA, the company behind mobile browsers Opera Mobile and Opera Mini, for a speed dial to Hungama's WAP site; and then with record label Universal Music Group India for its music talent site ArtistAloud.com. It also recently relaunched GamingHungama.com as TheGameBox.com, a website for casual gamers.

Hungama is an aggregator, publisher and distributor of entertainment content and games online and on mobiles. It has exclusive rights to over 0.5 million music and video titles which it distributes as value added services through operators.