Sony begins Animax roll out

News

Stuart O'Brien Jun 14 2007, 9:30am

Sony Pictures Television International has launched a made-for-mobile Animax channel on 3 Australia and Bell Mobility in Canada.

The launches are the first in what will be a global mobile roll out of SPTI's Japanese animé channel, which is currently available on cable and satellite across Asia, Latin America, Central Europe and Germany.

The company first revealed its plans for Animax mobile services in April. The streamed Animax Mobile channel targets 14-34 year-olds and launched on 3 Australia on June 12 - Bell Mobility will follow in July.

Animax Mobile will initially offer a two-hour loop of four full-length animé series - Blood+, Last Exile, ROD the TV, and The Count of Monte Cristo.

It will be packaged with a made-for-mobile 'interstitial' trivia element, an Animax graphic package, short-form, cult animation series such as Petey and Jadey, regional product such as TechnoMax and ImagineNation from Animax Asia and bonus features such as program guides, customised music and graphic ids.

Bill Sanders, VP of mobile network programming at SPTI, said: "It’s not about the big screen vs. the little screen. Often, it’s a choice of small screen vs. no screen at all, and with Animax Mobile, we’re able to bring some of Animax’s most valuable programs to fans new and old at times and in places where they couldn’t see them before."