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.

This is interesting.

http://www.yoochat.com

Could this be suggesting an online chat service in development? Maybe, maybe not!

Thought it worth posting anyway.

Yoomedia CEO, addresses interactivity Stateside.

http://www.yoomedia.com/pdfs/Guardian140205.pdf

New media David Docherty: How to get ahead in Digital Hollywood
732 words
14 February 2005
The Guardian
13
English
Copyright 2005. The Guardian. All rights reserved.
This is a Renaissance moment in the media industry. I don't mean that we are suddenly blessed
with Michelangelos renewing the creative soul of TV, but as with Renaissance art, you need to know
so much to make an impact these days. Fifteenth-century painters realised quickly that being handy
with a brush did not cut it against someone doing anatomy, astronomy and architecture. Similarly,
if media companies are to understand what is going on today, they need to explore those areas
where economics, technology and social forces meet creativity and demand.
This came home to me last week in New York when I spoke at a conference called Digital
Hollywood. The delegates were the usual mixture of Big Suits from the media groups, VCs,
production companies and consultants. But there was also a new group of people calling themselves
DRM (Digital Rights Management) evangelists and senior security architects.
In the old days, a TV conference was about programmes, networks, and at a pinch, broadcast
technology. However, the full title of the summit was: The International Conference on Motion
Pictures, Television, Cable and Satellite, Broadband, Wireless, Publishing and Radio, Print Media,
News Media, Advertising and Marketing. Nothing escapes Hollywood, not while there is money to be
made.
This all-embracing summit seemed to be about the triumph of convergence. But convergence is a
muddled concept and muddies the water when trying to work out what consumers want and what
technologies can do. The simpler truth is that all audiovisual content will ultimately become bits
delivered to devices, and that we as consumers will decide whether we want it to materialise on a
TV, a phone or a video-pod.
The underlying mood of the conference was a huge sigh of relief that the post-bubble gloom was
over, coupled with an anxious optimism about the future. There was no fools' goldrush, and apart
from someone coining the term "mosiology" (the sociology of wireless culture - yuck), no
grandstanding.
The reason it was all a bit sober-sided was that the themes - globalisation, the connected consumer,
everything-on-demand, the trans formation of advertising, the rise of mobile and wireless content -
refer to trends already happening in the US and global markets. Seven companies now control the
worldwide advertising market, and a handful of media groups dominate the US. There are 40m
digital homes in the US, creating the conditions for an on-demand market. Mobile content is already
generating $8bn a year and forecast to grow to $35bn by 2008.
In each session, content creators and distribution companies behaved like people in a dating
service: good-looking network with great coverage looking for fascinating, unique individual to spice
up their life (and balance sheet). But for the production and talent end of the content industries,
there was a cheering message. The techies, advertisers, producers and financiers were all on the
same page as Mel Karmazin, former president and COO of Viacom, who gave the keynote speech.
"It's all about the content," he said.
Karmazin has made his considerable reputation by paying top dollar for stars and sports at CBS,
Infinity, and now Sirius, the satellite radio business, which, despite losing hun dreds of millions of
dollars last year, has bought Howard Stern and NFL rights.
The suits talked a lot about superdistribution, by which they meant sending content to as many
people in as many ways as possible. Importantly, however, there was a realisation that each
medium is different and it is dangerous to treat every device the same way. (WebTV anyone?
Thought not.) Someone made the observation that they can charge 79 cents for a music track and
$4 for a tiny segment of that track called a ringtone. The details make the difference.
The other clear winners from the two-day chatfest were consumers. As one delegate put it,
"bandwidth creates choice, and choice creates fragmentation." And fragmentation is just another
word for lots of things to choose from. Therein lies the Big Suit paradox. As the main media groups
globalise and merge, the internet drives not only localisation but new fickle consumers. To get to
us, the marketeers will have to find us. And Hollywood will have to work harder for our money.
Digital or not.
David Docherty is the chief executive of YooMedia

For MR. MOLE.




Extract from LSE rules

3130 A member firm may accept an order for a protected transaction, on the basis that the terms of
improvement may take the form of completing the full order at the lowest sale price or highest purchase
price agreed as being acceptable. An improvement on size shall be accompanied by an improvement
in price whenever reasonable.

Hope thats crystal clear!!




I've been told that the rationale for a trade's being protected is that it shouldn't destabilise the bid-offer spread. That may be the spirit of regulation 313

http://www.egrmagazine.com/cgi-bin/articles.pl?action=display&id=434&section=20&keyword=yoomedia

Remy Minute, head of Fancy A Flutter and commercial director at interactive media company YooMedia, analyses how the new UK Gambling Bill will affect remote operators
While media coverage of the Gambling Bill has focused on the arrival of Las Vegas-style resort casinos in the UK, its impact on remote operators promises to be as significant.

Under the new legislation, operators of phone, internet and interactive gaming services will be able to operate under a remote gambling licence. The idea is that by bringing these businesses onshore, the government can monitor the industry more effectively while helping it grow.

Child protection
One of the primary motivations for the Bill is to combat child gambling by forcing operators to introduce stringent age-verification procedures.

An investigation conducted by charity NCH found children as young as 11 could set up online gambling accounts. And, according to Mark Griffiths, Nottingham Univer-sitys professor of gambling studies, gambling addiction among adolescents is twice as common as it is in adults.

Under the new Bill, operators will be expected to conduct rigorous age checks or face massive fines. They will be policed by a new body, the Gambling Commission, with the power to conduct spot checks, enter premises and seize data.

With regulation in sight, more forward-looking operators are voluntarily adopting a tough verification policy. This involves asking all new users to enter their name, age and address, which are checked against databases such as the electoral register. If the data doesnt tally, access is refused.

Restricting underage access to gaming services is not the only area in which remote operators will have to work differently. Under the new regulations, betting exchanges central protagonists in the recent race-fixing allegations will be required to register all customer details and make this information available to the Gambling Commission. By creating an audit trail of who is using betting exchanges, the Commission hopes it can track down fraudsters attempting to manipulate the market.

Law and order
By tackling contentious issues like underage usage and fraud, the Bill is taking gambling further into the public mainstream. Under the proposals, all operators will have to provide safe areas for gambling on the internet and through television. And to further ensure high standards, the Parliamentary Committee has recommended a general prohibition on adverts from operators outside the European Economic Area unless the Gambling Commission is satisfied their standards of regulation are adequate.

As the Gambling Bill becomes law the make-up of remote operators is likely to change over time with established brands entering the market. Channel 4 has said it will launch mobile and online betting services beyond its TV heartland and brands such as Virgin have launched online casinos.

Remote gambling has shown it can appeal to new audiences such as young adults and women who traditionally shy away from the betting shop. By giving consumers confidence they are using well-regulated services from trusted brands, the popularity of remote gambling should extend further still into the mass market.

Interactive lift-off
While all remote gambling methods should benefit, the Bill promises to have the most dramatic impact on interactive television (iTV). Since its launch in the late 1990s, iTV has tried all manner of new media services searching for its killer application. In the past 18 months, the solution has arrived in the form of gambling a market already worth 600m a year on iTV.

iTV gambling is restricted to fixed-odds betting such as racing. However, with the proposed relaxation of gambling laws, the scope of iTV gambling should spread to include games such as roulette and poker, and opportunities to co-mingle jackpots between remote- and land-based gambling.

The Gambling Bill promises to provide greater law and order in the world of remote gambling, by enforcing age limits and higher standards of best practice. Implementing its measures will require time, effort and money, but should reap spectacular results in the area that matters most: increased sales.

iPublic , does this chart scream buy ??????

.... screams avoid like the plague to me.

Good luck

I think Weinstein, he of "A chart is worth a thousand company reports fame" would rate this buy. I certainly do for the reasons expressed on this BB by some most incisive contributors.

Thank you mactavish for that...think I got the gist. Thought a protected buy was two burly men with a briefcase full of notes wearing ill fitting suits. Still learning the ropes a bit.

Hello Mr. Robson. Been a voyeur on these boards for a week or two and thought I'd stick my snout up above the surface and join in (started an earlier thread about AIT (AGP) and was overwhelmed by the...er...one response. Must learn to be more interesting!) Have a bit of Yoo myself. Feel from the educated comments on this board it'll fly....soon I hope.

Credit for reserch below to PSmith, on another BB.

300 million budget per annum for Public TV service - Yoomedia already took part in a mock bid for this with other partners in recent times - the presentation was headed by our David Docherty, I have not yet seen the result of the mock bid, that is, if it does get published, any way, here is some info:-

from:- http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=3912

UK communications regulator Ofcom has called for the setting up of a new Public Service Provider (PSP) which would distribute TV programmes in a digital format through broadband lines, networked PVRs, and mobile networks, as well as more conventional TV distribution systems.

And it has proposed funding of 430m (300m) a year and that would include the commissioning of TV programmes, and Ofcom said it would be able to spend as much as 290,000 (200,000) for each hour of content it created.

The aim would be to compete with the BBC and other publicly funded TV, to provide high-quality content, and instead of a 24-hour TV channel, it should aim for about three hours of programming per day.

Content of that quality could eventually be made available internationally on a pay per view basis. The PSP would be different to existing broadcasters. Inevitably, in its early years in the transition to digital, much of the PSP's digital content would be more likely to resemble traditional TV programmes, but it would not be a TV channel in the traditional sense, nor would it publish books, magazines or newspapers (as the BBC has done). There should be a series of public bids to run the PSP in the UK, but it should not be awarded to the BBC, insisted Ofcom.

Ofcom said it would not rule out carriage arrangements whereby the PSP secured agreements to distribute publicly funded material on analogue TV before digital switchover. Of course, it is primarily seen as a shortcut to both digital TV programming and internet delivery.

If Ofcom gets this original idea off the ground, there is a good chance that other European countries with prominent public service broadcasting commitments, might also adopt it.

End of text

And here is the details of Yoomedia's mock bid - note comments at the end - Yoomedia's proposal was one of the most exciting:-
PSP proposals revealed
Emily Booth
03 December 2004 12:33


Discovery Europe, Fremantle, BT and The Science Museum were among the consortia members at Ofcoms hypothetical PSP pitch yesterday.


Discovery Europe, Fremantle, BT and The Science Museum were among the consortia members at Ofcoms hypothetical PSP pitch yesterday.

The presentations were led by Human Capital, Yoomedia and Spectrum Strategy, and all mentioned Channel 4 as a potential partner.

Shadow tender presentations were made to an expert panel - chaired by Adam Singer, who sits on Ofcoms content board of Tim Gardam, former Channel 4 director of programmes, David Chance, chairman of TopUp TV, and Joyce Taylor of Mersey TV.

Human Capital led a consortium of The Science Museum and distribution partner BT. Its main proposal was to help publicly-funded institutions such as museums, galleries, state education and the NHS to increase the value for money they provide to tax payers.

This would be achieved in three key ways: using C4s experience as a commissioner of television and interactive content; letting institutions and individuals create content for every platform using BT rich media; and using digital technology to transform the delivery of publicly-funded services.

In response, David Chance praised the proposals idea of logging into the existing asset base. Tim Gardam made the point that he didnt know where the creative centre of the proposal was, although he added: "The idea of a library of material is an excellent one."

Yoomedia proposed the brand Six, backed up by a team consisting of BT, Telewest, Reel Media, Talkback Thames, Thinner Media and Accenture. Its premise was that the PSP should be "dedicated to innovative production, aimed primarily at marginalized but significant minorities in the UK and distributed on all digital and broadband platforms."

It would bring together self-organising communities or Tribes to allow "broader innovation and representation of more diverse talents". These tribes would do things such as vote for commissions and how funds should be distributed. 250 million would be spent on programming, including a dedicated fund of 30 million for "self-commissioning of content".

C4 would have access to all of Sixs content for free, but it would have to commit to a minimum number of hours of content from the fund each year to run in peaktime.

Joyce Taylor praised the public access part of Yoomedias proposal. Gardam said he liked it "a lot", but questioned its scale and whether it provided enough direct competition to the BBC.

The Spectrum Strategy-led consortium, which included Fremantle, Discovery Europe, Vodafone, Bulldog Communications and Vision Architects, came up with the brand name Origin8. Its PSP offering would aim to be "all-original", innovative, creative and risk-taking "in ways commercial broadcasters cannot afford to be".

There would be two strands of content: high quality content, "which is under-provided by the market"; and local targeted content. The budget breakdown would see 211 million spent on content, and would include 12 local TV stations, 12 local portals and 40 websites.

Up to one hour per day of Origin8s content would be showcased in a regular peak-time slot on C4. There would also be cross-promotion of content and services between Origin8 and C4.

In response, David Chance said: "It was the safest proposal weve seen. I commend it." Gardam agreed: "It was the most conservative of the pitches and therefore the most likely to get commissioned," but he added that he wasnt quite sure what it was doing that was new.

In his closing remarks, Ofcoms Ed Richards explained that several key themes, such as distribution and communities, had emerged, in particular the relationship to C4, which "we will have to look at carefully."

On funding, Richards said: "It is a challenge, but frankly it is a challenge that already exists. It is not unique to PSP it washes across the whole broadcasting industry."



Responses from the industry:

Peter Cowley, director of interactive media, Endemol UK

The strengths of all the proposals were that the groups had clearly put a great deal of work in to the idea of creating a PSP, giving Ofcom a free brainstorm from the great and the good of the TV industry. The weakness of all the proposals was that they were under represented by non-broadcast publishers, such as magazines, mobile and online portals and content creators. David Dochertys group was my favourite proposal his team was the only group that showed they had an understanding of how the digital publishing world may be in the years to come.

Andy Duncan, Channel 4 chief executive

A lot of the ideas and thinking was stimulating.

Jonnie Turpie, executive chairman, Maverick Television

Each proposal held valuable insights into the way forward and together they point to the complexity of Digital PSB and that we do not have the PSP model just yet. As Ed Richards said there is a lot of hard work, thinking and planning ahead, but it is absolutely worth it to get PSB in the digital edge.

John McVay, Pact chief executive

You wouldnt say any one was it, but there were elements of each of the proposals that were interesting. Overall Origin8 seemed to be the most worked through proposal.

Alex Graham, chief executive, Wall to Wall

I thought the third pitch [Spectrum] was the most intellectually coherent and well thought-out but also the most conservative and raised most questions about why wed need a completely new organization to do stuff which Channel 4 and the BBC are capable of doing already. Yoomedia's was the most exciting pitch because it genuinely tried to engage with developments outside the mainstream media (file-sharing, blogging etc.) though I think the purpose of the organisation was not at all thought through. I thought the first proposal [Human Capital] was disappointing for the same reasons - it appeared to be a very paternalistic, almost pre-Reithian approach which failed to engage with what audiences are currently doing and watching.


Source:broadcastnow.co.uk

I would highly recommend all investors to subscribe to www.broadcastnow.co.uk - it is well worth the money, you also get a weekly paper.

Anyway, fantastic news that Yoomedia should be considered for the PSB - it shows what respect they have gained as an iTV provider - I am sure what ever happens with the PSB - they will be involved in someway

Regards

Paul

Paul

Hope you don't mind me reposting your work because........for your eyes only.........

The original Powerpoint presentation from SIX, including Yoomedia.

http://www.bowblog.com/archives/files/bowbrick_channel_6_pres.ppt

You will need the Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer, available here.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=428d5727-43ab-4f24-90b7-a94784af71a4&displaylang=en

Here is the link to the William Hill sponsored race at Southwell, at 3.50pm today.

3.50 Poker Coming Soon On Channel 425 H'Cap

http://www.irish-racing.com/dpirs05226Feb20051550.htm

Poker coming soon on Channel 425. If that's true, well we know how the market is reacting to any company statement with the word 'poker' contained within!

It appears Yoomedia currently have the only roulette game on television, according to this.

http://www.willhill.com/iibs/EN/static/tv_roulette.asp

So much news concerning Yoomedia to post this weekend and the gaming division is only one part of Yoomedia.

http://www.games.uk.com/2004/12/zone4play-and-avago-launches-wireless.html

http://www.phonecontent.com/bm/news/games/606.shtml

Zone4Play and Avago Launches Wireless Online Casino in UK

Zone4Play has announced that, with the help of Avago, it has launch of its play-for-real fixed-odds casino platform on Hutchinson 3G. Hutchinson 3G is the UKs first video mobile network and the new casino games, Avago branded, are among the first mobile fixed-odds services in the UK. They will also be available in a play for fun format. Zone4Play says it has been working with, DITG Gaming, Avagos parent company, to perfect and expand the casino application.

Idan Miller VP Marketing and Sales at Zone4Play, commented, 'We are excited to see our fixed-odds games leap to life on Hutchison 3G Mobile service, the first UK mobile operator to offer fixed-odds games, through our partnership with DITG. This new deployment strengthens our position in the market as the number one technology provider for iTV and Mobile betting services.'

Damian Cope, Managing Director, DITG Gaming, said: 'We are delighted to be launching this service on 3 in conjunction with Zone4Play, and are convinced that mobile gambling revenues will grow strongly over the next few years. We are confident that both existing and future Avago customers will enjoy the ability to play games via their mobile handsets.'

Dil

Pretty chart! Good for wallpaper! Now, here's a challenge. Go back and reproduce your chart on a two-year timescale! What do you see? You see false dawns, not one but two! An early excitment false dawn (I was part of that!). A second coming false dawn (I was part of that!). Why did we have the false dawns? Because of the prospects beyond the horizon! What is that hope in all our hearts - yes, third time lucky! And why will that become true for YOO? Because we all want to be lucky the next time! We are all gamblers at heart - why are we traders on the stock exchange? Now we can see why it was too early the first two times. Now we know that it will be third time lucky. Forget the charts for a moment and learn from the fundamentals, my friend!

Eric

Dil - Your de-ramping is getting a little tedious. First I see you doing it on the ASOS thread and now on Yoo. Do you actually rate any shares at present or are you constantly shorting and hoping to turn others in order to turn a profit?

Its called having an opinion queenie and just because it differs from yours it does not mean its deramping. I am not short and go and look around and you will find plenty of positive posts on a number of companies.

Eric , I look at the fundamentals but also at the chart to confirm them. There are many companies with excellent fundamentals that are going nowhere.

Good luck.

Yoomedia and William Hill, run Channel 425 on Sky. Launched last October, so revenue and profits, not yet in public domain.

http://www.willhill.com/iibs/EN/static/channel425.asp?r_tab_radio=d_1radtab

Here is the link to the William Hill sponsored race at Southwell, at 3.50pm today.

3.50 Poker Coming Soon On Channel 425 H'Cap

http://www.irish-racing.com/dpirs05226Feb20051550.htm

Poker coming soon on Channel 425! If that's true, well we know how the market is reacting to any company statement with the word 'poker' contained within!

It appears Yoomedia currently have the only roulette game on television, according to this.

http://www.willhill.com/iibs/EN/static/tv_roulette.asp

Who better than a FTSE 100 partner like William Hill, to promote poker on Yoomedia's channel 425! Remember, it's Yoomedia's intention to launch channel 425 on cable this year. Poker on the television will be huge. Given the choice, the majority of players would prefer to slump in front of their 28'+ televisions, than be hunched up in front of an 17' monitor. The crucial aspect of this news, is William Hill's ability to extensively promote the poker product and channel 425. Do not underestimate this.

Thanks for the opinion Dil. Oh, and by the way, its queen1 just in case you were having problems with your reading.

Queenie was used as a term of endearment your majesty , apologies.

http://www.readabet.com/index.php/other/article/7047

WILLIAM HILL TV BUYS TALKSPORTS THE GAME

William Hill, the UKs leading fixed odds bookmaker has announced that it has bought the popular TalkSport television venture to run on its interactive TV arm on Channel 425 on the Sky platform.

David Hood, William Hill PR Director said; There is a lot of interest in sports betting and football / The Premiership in particular. We believe live broadcasts of The Game hosted by Patrick Kinghorn will prove extremely popular with the early evening viewer and we like the content and the look of the show from Talksport. We feel the previews the show provides to football matches later in the evening, on which William Hill is providing a range of bets, is a natural fit for Channel 425.

Since it launched in October 2004, Channel 425 has built up a dedicated core of evening punters with its nightly presentation of live greyhound racing and whilst we currently carry previews of other live sporting events, particularly football, the addition of the Talksport format is sure to widen our audience naturally. It provides the armchair viewer with live sports content between 4pm and 11pm a night.

Whilst stimulating betting activity via Hills established Internet and telephone mediums, Channel 425 offers viewers an interactive function via the red button with a host of RNG products available 24hrs a day. The channel also expects to launch a new live TV Poker Format by the Second-Quarter of 2005, with players winning their place on the small screen via the online tournaments on Williamhillpoker.com.

According to official figures, TalkSport radio attracted an average audience of just under two million in the final quarter of 2004.


Article created on 17/02/2005 15:37

"The channel also expects to launch a new live TV Poker Format by the Second-Quarter of 2005, with players winning their place on the small screen via the online tournaments on Williamhillpoker.com."

Yoomedia and Willaim Hill, a winning team!