Company Profile

YooMedia plc is one of the fastest growing interactive entertainment companies in the UK.
Since 1997 we have been developing and launching leading B2C consumer brands in the gaming and community sectors. We also work in a B2B capacity with leading brand owners, agencies, content developers and broadcasters to design and develop their interactive content strategies.

Led by Executive Chairman Dr. Michael Sinclair and Group Managing Director Neil MacDonald, YooMedia has assembled a highly experienced management team that possesses a unique blend of skills and experience in the areas of Digital TV, Internet and mobile phone services and technology.

With main office locations in London, Exeter and Maidstone, YooMedia manages core assets including:

Over 30 office locations throughout the UK alone

State-of-the-art studio, production and post-production facilities at our Wapping location.

UK broadcast return path & bandwidth owner

Fully fledged UK Bookmaker License

Database with over 350K UK singles

SMS Engine access with international reach

Fully staffed 50 seat Customer Contact Centre in Maidstone, Kent

YooMedia Dating & Chat - Our dating subsidiary company manages the oldest and largest UK-owned dating brands including Dateline, Club Sirius and Avenues. YooMedia Dating has over 20 office locations throughout the UK and also manages YooChat, our world-leading interactive chat service found on UK digital cable on the Telewest platform (platform extensions planned for 2005).

YooMedia Gambling & Games - Combining the brands of Avago and Channel 425 (in partnership with William Hill) YooMedia is on the leading-edge of interactive fixed odds, casino and poker gambling services for digital TV, the web and 3G mobile phones. Our gaming business also manages YooPlay, the only interactive just for fun games channel found on all four Digital TV platforms in the United Kingdom.

YooMedia Enhanced Solutions (YES) - YES works with brand owners, agencies, content owners and broadcasters to clarify the options, define the strategies and deliver the interactive content that enhances consumer and audience experiences. YES customers include the BBC, Nestle, Celador, William Hill, Channel 4, ZipTV, The Cartoon Network and HR Owen.

In any war, always back the companies who supply the bullets!!

In the Media/Telco convergence war - YOOMEDIA are one of the leading armaments companies - they have no allegiances (being platform neutral) and are selling to all sides!


http://news.ft.com/cms/s/a656769a-5228-11da-9ca0-0000779e2340.html

Convergence: the dirty buzzword from the nineties is back with a vengeance
By Mark Odell and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnston
Published: November 10 2005 20:43 | Last updated: November 10 2005 20:43

On December 8, analysts and investors will get a vision of the future, with a presentation ranging from a new video-on-demand system to online gaming and a service that will allow homeowners to monitor their property remotely while on holiday.


This will not be a presentation from a broadcaster or a security company with a new product. Instead, the vision will be laid out by BT, a company once known for running a large fleet of vans and employing engineers to fiddle with bunches of multi-coloured spaghetti on street corners.

Welcome to BTs vision of convergence the dirty buzzword associated with all the hype of the late 1990s.

It is back with a vengeance in the telecommunications, technology and media industries. But this time, the talk is backed up by technology that works and by real money.

In recent months, Ebay, the US auction site, has spent $2.3bn (1.3bn) on Skype, one of the leaders in the emerging voice-over internet protocol industry, and ITV, the terrestrial broadcaster, has emerged as the most likely buyer for Friends Reunited, the online communities company that could command a valuation of 170m.

British Sky Broadcasting has spent 211m buying Easynet to expand into the broadband internet market and joined the list of broadcasters partnering with mobile phone companies by unveiling a mobile television alliance with Vodafone.

The deals are examples of media companies search for new distribution platforms and ways to keep viewers attention as audiences begin to drift away from television screens towards mobile phones, computers and devices such as Apples new video i-Pod.

They also reflect telecoms operators attempts to find new areas of revenue growth as their traditional voice market comes under attack from new market entrants, such as Skype, and their need to embrace broadband, where a flat-rate charging structure is undermining the per-minute charging model of old.

One core offering of BTs version of television will allow broadband customers with the right set-top box to download films from a back-catalogue on demand via their phone-line and to watch and rewind the movie as they please for a certain amount of time. The same set-top box will have a digital signal decoder built in, so customers can watch the free-to-air digital terrestrial offering enjoyed by Freeview subscribers.

BT insists it has no plans to become a broadcaster but nevertheless it is attacking Skys market place. Many analysts believe Sky is encroaching on BTs market.

Not so, says Ben Verwaayen, BTs chief executive. He claims Skys decision to buy Easynet is an attack on NTL and Telewest, the cable operators that are in the process of merging.

While it is true that Sky is targeting the cable operators, which can offer telephone, internet and television programming in one, analysts pour scorn on the suggestion that BT is not a target too. One says: BT customers will get video-on-demand and Freeview channels. What BT is doing is aimed directly at Sky, so wouldnt Sky fight back?

Mr Verwaayen is relying on many of the services that BT plans to offer over broadband to replace BTs diminishing traditional revenues as more and more rivals plan to take control of the access to customers telephone lines in the local exchange. Over time, value-added services will be much more important to the business than access by itself, he says.

Traditional media companies, in turn, have long been aware of the disruption being caused to their industries by the internet. Many have already begun to make money from convergence strategies, such as encouraging viewers to send premium-rate text messages during shows such as Big Brother or X-Factor.

Now, however, they are spending more serious money on convergence.

One driver for diversifying away from their traditional core activities is that these are suffering from the incursions of new online rivals.

Advertising spending, for example, is shifting away from mass-market channels such as ITV1 to the more targeted environment offered by the internet.

Another big reason for the renewed interest in new media, five years after the bursting of the dotcom bubble, is that these [online] businesses are cash flow positive, according to one banker who has advised several media companies.

That change is a result of the third factor driving convergence the explosion of broadband and mobile access in the UK in recent years. This has created a new mass audience and prompted changes in consumer behaviour that traditional media companies can now follow rather than try to predict.

One reason why media and telecoms companies lost so much money in the first round of convergence attempts five years ago was that they misjudged how quickly consumers would adopt the new technology on offer. Products such as the iPod, the Sky+ personal video recorder or video- enabled mobile phones have since then shown the strength of consumers appetites for the new technology.

However, Tony Cooper, head of the telecoms practice in Deloitte & Touches consulting practice, says companies that are so carried away by new technology that they lose sight of the markets readiness for it still risk being the losers in the race to converge. He says: Media and telecommunications companies realise that, in a converged world, they cant do it all themselves.

Having realised this, however, companies will have to decide whether to achieve their ambitions through acquisitions or through partnerships. Both strategies carry risks.

The initial reaction to ITVs pursuit of Friends Reunited has shown the level of scepticism among analysts and investors about a traditional media companys ability to value, understand and manage a company operating in such a different environment from its core business. Similarly, the history of joint ventures is littered with tales of partners falling out.

The final, and perhaps the biggest, dilemma as companies eye each other across the telecoms/media divide is how they will divide up the spoils. Mr Cooper says: The media companies come from the position that content is what holds value. The telecoms companies are saying we can give you tremendous access to customers and that has got value.

It may take longer for those disparate positions to converge

Where is our friend Dil? Has he passed away? Shame!

He is in hospital caught something of a sheep.

One should never crow too early - you could catch a cold

Baza

Baza,
You know I was chatting last night to explosive about ones I've called wrongly...........................

........Oh I dont think you have called this wrongly - cos it will recover - just got your timing wrong - as did I as I bought back in last week - albeit only a small amount - cos I thought the time was right and the future looked bright.

Dil and others did warn about cash burn - but I think this is only a temporary set back.

At least the management tean have got off their bums, recognised the problem and managed it.

It is also comforting that Wiliiam Hill have sufficient belief in the future to renogotiate the contract.

WellI have just bought some more at 7.90 - so fingers crossed

Brave man, Baza.
I sincerely hope its your best ever call!!
Alan

Lets face facts guys, they keep saying they will be cash flow positive by XXX, yet they NEVER deliver. Yet again this morning we see YOO for what it is, nothing but hot air and hope. They completely fail to deliver. Will you please wake up and smell the coffee. The statement this morning means they will have to raise cash.

"Such alternatives are expected to provide both increased marketing opportunities for the division and strengthen the Company's balance sheet."

In corporate speak, in case you are unable to hear it, that means, we are short on opportunities to raise cash and we are looking to sell off the silverware.

Never fall in love with a position because it wont love you back.

"To date the Company has managed the impact of these delays on cash flow
within its banking facilities, and is currently exploring a number of available
options for strengthening its balance sheet."

Be very worried....

looks like Dil was correct.......

Scrip

our conversation on Friday has come true scarily quickly :-)

lol what a suprise !!!

Jam tomorrow .... after big rights issue.

Its still a pile of sh*te iPublic and always will be imo.

Have a nice day.

oh dear Dil-lend us a quid will you and buy me a drink for Christmas to drown my sorrows!!

"our conversation on Friday has come true scarily quickly :-) "

The sad thing is it was so obvious but try and warn people and you get grief. Honestly.....

mmmm.....directors seem to have been somewhat economical with the truth at whatever meeting took place...no need for rights issue...looks like their only option to me

Selling off the best bits may raise some cash but could leave existing shareholders with very little of any worth left.

The thread has been quiet today for a company with such great prospects.

I like this bit......

"Are they running out of money?

The company is nearly profitable at the moment, even without significant WH and Broadband TV contributions. The aim is to become cashflow positive over the next couple of months and the Chairrman has stated to me and others (at our recent meeting at Yoomedia HQ) that he is relaxed and happy with the way matters are progressing. "

and this bit......

"On the face of it they only have a couple of million quid left to get through. However, The Chairman has given us an assurance, which I hope is kept, that there are no plans for the company to prostitute itself to a rights issue at these levels solely for working capital requirements. A rights issue has never been discussed and the company are happy with the current financial position. The Boards interests are firmly aligned with those of shareholders and any dilution at these levels would hit all shareholders (including the board) hard in the pockets. They seem confident that they will make it through to cash flow positivity without the need to dilute the shareholders interests. "

But of course the market has changed since then hasn't it.