BesTV New Media, Shanghai Media Group's new media subsidiary, and Orange, France Telecom's mobile and Internet network brand, have signed a strategic cooperation agreement on technology and investment for integration of mobile phones, televisions, and computers.
Under the agreement, Orange will be authorized to broadcast content from the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, for which BesTV is the exclusive new media partner, across its European network. As leading Internet Protocol Television providers in their respective regions, the two parties will jointly invest in the development of converged multimedia broadcast services for mobile phones, televisions, and computers.
In addition, the two parties will implement technology application cooperation in the development of next-generation IPTV. Based on the cooperation, traditional TV content can gain further value with the help of Internet new media technology and community-based interpersonal communication, so as to improve the experiences of users and to establish a highly interactive TV portal.
France Telecom has over 100 million users around the world; while BesTV currently has over three million IPTV users, two million mobile phone TV users, and 50 million Internet wide-screen TV users in China.