HFM and Sporever to create joint venture

They have created a joint venture dedicated to developing an audiovisual offering for certain HFM brands

HFM and Sporever have created a joint venture (50/50 ownership) dedicated to developing an audiovisual offering for certain HFM brands. Designed especially for mobile phones, the services will include practical information, celebrity interviews, events coverage, news reports and games.

Under this strategic alliance, the two companies are co-publishers of the services provided to the public. HFM has contributed the licenses to use its brands, the editorial quality and breadth of its titles, and its cross-marketing and promotional capacities for mobile multimedia services. Sporever brings its expertise in audiovisual production and its marketing know-how in the design of mobile services for consumers.

According to Anne Marie Couderc, managing director of HFM’s Presse Magazine France, “HFM wants to move faster in the mobile phone market, capitalize on its expertise as a creator of content, develop growth engines for our print media by supporting readers who increasingly consume media on their mobile phones and, finally, attract new readers”.

Patrick Chène, CEO of Sporever, noted, “We are extremely honoured to work with one of the industry’s leading international companies. There are already two million users of broadband mobile phones and the number keeps rising. We are determined to develop a trend-setting audiovisual offering for these users based on a complete range of prestigious titles. These services will be specifically produced to meet the needs of mobile users”.

Hachette Filipacchi Médias Group, a subsidiary of Lagardère, is the world’s leading magazine publisher with more than 260 publications in 41 countries, representing more than one billion copies and generating sales of €1.9 billion in 2005.

Founded in 2000 by Patrick Chêne, former sports director for France Télévision, and Jacques-Henri Eyraud, Sporever Group is the leading provider of sports information for new media. In particular, the company operates the country’s No. 1 football site on the Web, Football365.fr, and one of the major multi-sport sites in France, Sport365.fr. The Group’s websites attracted 2.2 million unique visitors in December 2005, including nearly 10 million visits and 38 million page views (Sources: Wysistat, certified tool Diffusion Contrôle). Sporever has been listed on the Alternext market of the Paris stock exchange since July 2005 (code: ALSPO).

Sporever Web Site
http://www.sport365.fr