European Championships 2000 Site Launched
365 Corporation PLC
29 March 2000
365 Corporation launches new European Championships 2000 site in five
languages
365 Corporation plc ('365') the provider of content, community and
communications services across multiple digital platforms announces the launch
of www.eurofinals365.com, a multi-language, multi-platform service dedicated
to this summer's Euro 2000 Football Championship.
The Eurofinals365 website will be available in five languages - English,
French, Italian, German and Spanish - and will provide football fans worldwide
with all the latest news, views and interviews about the tournament, all
delivered in the inimitable 365 style.
Amongst many features, fans will also be able to participate in the website
themselves, by talking directly to football celebrities in chat rooms, by
giving their views in discussion forums on all the big Euro 2000 issues and by
posting e-ails on the site. In addition, Eurofinals365 will provide top class
audio and video content including celebrity video diaries, together with live
commentary on each and every match.
Each individual language site will be edited and maintained by dedicated teams
in the local territories. The English, French and Spanish services will draw
on the current expertise of football365.co.uk, football365.fr and
Futbol365.com and be managed from 365's London, Paris and Chile offices. The
German, Italian and additional Spanish language services will be run by new
365 operations in Munich, Milan and Barcelona respectively.
365 will also provide a Eurofinals365 Wireless Application Protocol ('WAP')
service. This means that users of WAP-enabled devices will be able to receive
football news content direct to their mobile phones. This service will be
available in the five languages.
Commercially, 365 has entered into substantial agreements with a range of
partners including Ericsson, which has been secured as the communication
sponsor of the Eurofinals365 English language site. The official airline of
the Euro20000, KLM-Alitalia, which is the Global Joint
Venture between KLM, the Royal Dutch airline and Alitalia, the Italian
airline, have entered into a contract with 365 to produce and host their
Euro2000 web site. The KLM-Alitalia web site will be an important part of the
network of web sites during the tournament.
Commenting on the announcement, Danny Kelly, Publishing Director of 365 said:
'This is a very exciting and innovative project for 365 which gives us the
opportunity to further build the 365 brand in key European markets. Running
operations in five key territories demonstrates our ongoing commitment to
building a worldwide community of 365 fans.
With key sponsorship arrangements already in place with companies such as
Ericsson, Eurofinals365 clearly demonstrates the major revenue opportunities
offered by our multi-language, multi-platform content.'
Enquiries:
365 Corporation plc Tel: 0171 505 7800
Simon Morris, Marketing Director www.365corp.com
Financial Dynamics Tel: 0171 831 3113
Giles Sanderson
Fiona Meiklejohn
NOTES FOR EDITORS - 365 Corporation plc
CURRENT CONTENT AND SERVICE OFFERINGS
Consumer
Sport
Football - www.football365.com (English), www.futbol365.com (Spanish),
www.football365.fr (French), www.talkfootball365.com (Football content on a
cross platform basis via TalkFootball365, a telephone and Internet service).
Cricket - www.cricinfo365.com (daily e-mail publication in joint venture with
CricInfo), www.cricketline.com (a leading site for International cricket,
complete scorecards of every Test match ever played).
Rugby - www.rugby365.com (produced in four language versions - English,
French, Spanish, Afrikaans), www.rugbyrugby.com (North American rugby
website), www.planet-rugby.com (a market leading online rugby resource
including breaking news, unique statistics).
Racetips: www.racetips.com (a site dedicated to Horse Racing giving the inside
track on news, form and the horses to follow).
Formula 1: www.planet-f1.com (website featuring news, features and a
searchable archive of every race in F1 history).
Sports Overview: www.sportszine.co.uk (complete guide to sport on the Internet
through a searchable database of over 40,000 individually reviewed websites),
www.sportonair.com (UK's first dedicated sports audio website with hourly
news, features and interviews).
Entertainment
Music - www.music365.com (reviews of albums and singles, interviews with
artists and personalities and topical stories, on-line chat forum, on-line
shopping facilities for concert tickets, CDs and videos).
Competitions - www.win365.co.uk (a cross-platform competition based product).
Games - www.planet-trivia.com (a network of live, multiplayer trivia games
where users can compete in real time against anyone else in the world on a
variety of topics including television, education, history, entertainment and
sport and win prizes).
365Television - The first production, a documentary on boxer Mike Tyson's UK
fight, was commissioned by BBC Choice and recently aired on BBC Choice and
BBC2.
Lifestyle
Companionship - www.personals365.com (an on-line companionship product),
www.theswitch.co.uk (a multi-platform product using the web and telephone for
chat).
Advisory services - telephone-based services to users. 365 provides telephone
lines and systems and Infogenie procures the advisory services, currently for
legal services and veterinary services.
Business
The Business Division provides communication services and Internet
applications to small and medium sized enterprises in the UK and Ireland. It
aims to provide a 'one stop shop' of communications services and Internet
applications to its customers. 365 currently provides voice and data access,
telephone systems, mobiles, Internet access and related hardware. In order to
work towards national coverage, 365 has formed equity joint ventures with 12
telecom systems dealers across the UK. Under these arrangements, 365
contributes its expertise and access to its customer service and billing
infrastructure, while the dealer contributes local sales and marketing
expertise. The existing customer base of the joint venture partners provides
the initial target for 365's marketing efforts.