Leading Consumer Web Sites Line Up for Mpath's HearMe.com Partners Program
June 7, 1999 07:32 AM
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 7, 1999--
E! Online, Entertainment Boulevard, Bolt, The Black World Today, St. Petersburg Times and BOXING.COM Partner with HearMe.com for Live Audio Communities
Mpath Interactive, Inc. MPTH today announced new syndication partners for its HearMe.com(TM) Partners Program. Leading consumer Web sites including E! Online (www.eonline.com), Entertainment Boulevard (www.entertainmentblvd.com), Bolt (www.bolt.com), The Black World Today (www.tbwt.com), the St. Petersburg Times (www.tampabay.com) and BOXING.COM (www.boxing.com) have partnered with HearMe.com to take advantage of Mpath's live audio community technology for the Internet. Through a HearMe.com partnership, these sites are working with Mpath to offer FREE live audio communities for their customers.
Unveiled in February 1999, HearMe.com is a free live audio community where people can interact live and in real-time using voice, music, and other forms of sound. The HearMe.com Partners Program, announced today, provides access to Mpath's technology, managed infrastructure, community content and large member base so that consumer Web services can launch audio chat communities without having to build the technology and infrastructure from the ground up. The program creates co-branded live audio communities based around popular content from leading online brands to bring live audio to both the partners' and the HearMe.com Web site. Mpath announced the HearMe.com Partners Program today in news release entitled "Mpath Interactive Announces HearMe.com Partners Program."
The following partners are incorporating live audio via HearMe.com in the following ways:
-- E! Online Entertainment's Home Page(TM),
has teamed up with HearMe.com to bring the power of live audio to
their highly-acclaimed Web site. With live audio, E! Online users
will be able to talk to other people from across the Internet
about the latest celebrity news and events in their own voices.
-- Entertainment Boulevard
Entertainment Boulevard has teamed with HearMe.com to launch the
EntertainmentBlvd.com live audio community for their online sites
Vidnet, Screen Clips, Pro Sports Net and Netfomercial. In the
Entertainment Blvd live audio community, accessible from both
HearMe.com and the Entertainment Boulevard sites, people can
gather and talk about their favorite entertainment topics
including music videos, movies, comedy, and sports.
-- Bolt In Bolt's live audio community, users
will enter a Bolt branded lobby highlighting special activities
and promotions geared to audio interactions. From there, users
can create chat rooms where they can talk about shared music,
sports and many other interests.
-- The Black World Today In the Black World
Today voice chat area, community members can share ideas,
information, views and perspectives on a range of issues that
impact their lives, from the trivial to the profound. The
intimacy of audio chatting also helps to coalesce and consolidate
the community.
-- The St. Petersburg Times' TampaBay.com
The Saint Petersburg Times, Florida's largest daily newspaper,
has teamed with HearMe.com to build a live audio community for
visitors to their TampaBay.com Web site -- a news, entertainment
and community area for people from the Tampa Bay, Florida
metropolitan area. In the TampaBay.com live audio community,
people can voice chat about local events, movies, hobbies and any
other topic that the community desires.
-- BOXING.COM BOXING.COM, a leading source
of news and information for novice and expert boxing fans, has
teamed with HearMe.com to create a live audio community where
visitors will be able to talk directly to their boxing idols and
other ringside stars. They will also be able to hang out and talk
with other boxing fans about the "sweet science" and
one-of-a-kind BOXING.COM events and contests.
Jeff Mayzurk, director of technology, from E! Online, explained the benefits of teaming with HearMe.com for live audio. "Our goal is to present our customers with the most compelling and entertaining online experiences available," said Mayzurk. "By teaming with HearMe.com we are able to leverage Mpath's technology and expertise to add live audio - an incredibly personal application -- to our site with minimal effort."
According to Entertainment Boulevard CEO Stephen Brown, live audio is a compelling activity that drives consumers to Web sites and keeps them online for long periods of time. "Just spend some time in a live audio community and see how entertaining and engaging live voice chat and other online audio activities can be," said Brown. "Response from our community has been extremely positive and our members stay online for hours at a time to join voice chats on a variety of topics."
By adding live audio community features from HearMe.com, consumer Web sites and services will be able to create compelling places for their customers to meet people, share interests, and entertain one another for hours at a time - encouraging them to visit their sites more frequently and stay online for longer periods of time.
To contact Mpath regarding HearMe.com and the HearMe.com Partners Program Tom Garland at 650/429-3666 or garland@hearme.com.
About The HearMe.com Partners Web Sites - Diversity and Strong
Vertical Communities
E! Online, , Entertainment's Home Page, delivers original entertainment news, gossip, celebrities, movie and TV information to entertainment enthusiasts through an interactive format maximizing the brand awareness and reach of E! Entertainment Television. Based in Los Angeles, E! Online reaches over 3.8 million unique U.S. adults per month and is the premier entertainment destination on the World Wide Web. E! Online also operates shop.eonline.com, the Internet's one-stop shop for entertainment. E! Online is a wholly-owned subsidiary of E! Entertainment Networks which is currently available to 56 million cable and direct broadcast satellite subscribers in the U.S.
Entertainment Boulevard, Inc. EBLD , www.entertainmentblvd.com, is one of the leading providers of streaming entertainment-related media on the Internet. Among the firm's award-winning websites is Vidnet (www.vidnet.com), one of the most comprehensive interactive music video channels on the Web. Vidnet has rapidly become a premier music destination site on the Internet. The firm's mandate of Internet global expansion includes launching current and future Web sites under the umbrella of EntertainmentBlvd.com. Based in Los Angeles, Entertainment Boulevard is aggressively developing and implementing strategic alliances with key commerce and entertainment companies, broadening its presence worldwide.
Bolt (www.bolt.com), produced by Bolt Media Inc., is the largest teen-focused destination on the Internet and one of the fastest growing Web sites in the world. The site offers products, services and communication tools to its core audience of 13 to 20-year olds. Bolt has 72 million page views a month and 750,000 registered users with several thousands more teens registering daily. Bolt Media Inc. is located in New York City.
The Black World Today is a premiere destination site on the Web for African Americans and people of African descent around the world. This fast growing vertical portal offers a wide range of services to its community of some 220,000 from news, sports and commentaries to e-commerce, free e-mail and free Web sites. It also has an innovative Radio Center with some of the most comprehensive audio content to be found on the Web.
The St. Petersburg Times' TampaBay.com is a news, entertainment, and community for people from the Tampa Bay, Fla. metropolitan area. The St. Petersburg Times is Florida's largest daily newspaper.
BOXING.COM is the Internet's leading boxing only Web site with over 14,000 unique impressions per hour during peak periods and special events and 23,000 registered email subscribers. BOXING.COM is a property of Communicate.com, a strategic Internet solutions company with emphasis on Internet, intranet, extranet, e-commerce, and e-business solutions. Communicate.com also develops Internet management software tools and is active in an exciting new Internet sector providing corporate clients with domain-based Internet branding, portal sites, alternate distribution channels and transactional hubs.
About HearMe.com
HearMe.com (www.hearme.com) is a free live audio community, dedicated exclusively to real-time interaction through voice, music, and other forms of sound. On HearMe.com, consumers can talk, sing, play music, recite poetry, practice celebrity impersonations, host personal conference calls and participate in a variety of real-time audio entertainment activities that are interactive, social, and compelling. Based on proprietary audio software and optimized network infrastructure, HearMe.com allows consumers around the world to use audio to interact with each other using a simple microphone, sound card, and speakers. HearMe.com is an Mpath Interactive(R) MPTH product.
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Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the Company's dependence on its ability to significantly increase its advertising revenue and revenue from Mpath Foundation customers, to maintain and develop strategic relationships with media, Internet and technology companies and to compete effectively. These and other risk factors are described in detail in the company's Registration Statement on Form S-1, and in the company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
HearMe, HearMe.com, and Mpath are trademarks of Mpath Interactive, Inc. Mpath Interactive is a registered trademark of Mpath Interactive, Inc. All other product or service names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners.
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