Abu Dhabi, UAE - May 27, 2008: Arvato Middle East Sales FZ-LLC, (AMES) and Abu Dhabi Media CompanyAbu Dhabi Media Company, a diversified media corporation in the Arab world today announced the formation of a joint venture initiative to bring Digital Media solutions to the Middle East and North African regions. The joint venture will launch a series of digital entertainment services under the "GETMO" brand name. GETMO Arabia will be a 50:50 joint venture firm based in Abu Dhabi and will set new benchmarks for digital entertainment in the region by leveraging the significant local content archive of Abu Dhabi Media CompanyAbu Dhabi Media Company, the Global Content Archive of AMES and the converged Digital Distribution platform GETMO.

The announcement of the formation of GETMO Arabia at MECOM comes after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Abu Dhabi Media CompanyAbu Dhabi Media Company and the Bertelsmann Group where a number of strategic initiatives were agreed. The announcement was accompanied by a showcase demonstration of digital media services that will be deployed. GETMO Arabia will offer its partners the ability to provide their customers with a combination of music, movies, games and infotainment services. These services will be available at any time on any device ranging from mobile phones and PCs connected with broadband to set-top boxes.

GETMO Arabia will offer services direct to consumers through www.getmo.com where customers can download music, video, movies, games and ringtones in English, Arabic and other Asian languages to their mobile phones & home computers. This content will be available to users at significantly reduced rates. The service will usher in a new era of mobile & PC entertainment in the region.

GETMO Arabia will change the face of digital entertainment across the region by combining the GETMO offering with affiliate programmes, sponsorship programmes or advertising campaigns of partner companies.

According to His Excellency Mohamed Khalaf Al Mazrouei, Chairman, Abu Dhabi Media CompanyAbu Dhabi Media Company "The launch of GETMO Arabia is testimony to our vision of creating a company which will bring innovative offerings across the entire value chain to redefine the concept of digital entertainment in this region. We believe the time is right for our groups to collaborate and give the audience in the region a compelling value proposition of entertainment on the device of their choice."

Ed Borgerding, CEO, Abu Dhabi Media CompanyAbu Dhabi Media Company said "Our company is focused on identifying future trends in the market and delivering creative solutions to the market. We see the emergence of ad-supported content, customer loyalty programmes and entertainment bundled with devices as three important trends. We see a great synergy between ourselves and the Bertelsmann group through AMES due to their core strengths in innovative technology platforms, content licensing, content creation and experience in managing the digital value chain along with our experience in developing content that is in line with tastes of audiences here in the UAE."

With over 33 million Internet and 80 million mobile phone users in the Middle East*, consumer demand for instant and personalized access to content is continuously increasing. As a result media platforms will be allocated an ever increasing share of advertising spend by international brands and marketing agencies looking for direct and relevant new ways of targeting consumers across the Middle East. (*Source: Informa/Juniper research study)

Commenting on the launch of GETMO Arabia, Sean Emery, CEO, Arvato Middle East Sales said, "We are excited at the opportunity of working with a renowned media group like Abu Dhabi Media CompanyAbu Dhabi Media Company to leverage our complementary media services and to increase our collective share of advertising budgets being spent across the Middle East. We believe that through collaboration with big brands across the region, we will be able to give consumers a rich mobile and digital entertainment experience at a price they can afford. For us, the convergence of media and telecommunications is the market of the future. We feel that consumers should be offered a significantly more compelling entertainment service compared to what they are presently getting from their operators and ISPs." He added, "Fully authorized download platforms that have accreditation from the international content labels will enable consumers to access more music, allow retailers to offer interesting music products, provide new revenue streams for enterprises and service providers and position Arvato as one of the region's leading and most innovative digital service."

GETMO is a state-of-art platform for the integration and distribution of digital content and offers marketers and the leading brands across the region a unique opportunity to use GETMO as an independent loyalty platform to build an emotional link with their customers through the exciting world of digital entertainment.

According to Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, CEO, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, "Sony BMG is excited about the new business opportunities in the Middle East and Africa and about the growth of the consumption of online and mobile content. Together with our partner Arvato Middle East Sales we have come up with very creative business models that allow us to offer Sony BMG catalogue in a manner that provides a compelling user proposition and extends the reach of our artists."

-Ends-

About Abu Dhabi Media Company
Abu Dhabi Media CompanyAbu Dhabi Media Company is a vertically integrated media company created in 2007 as a public joint stock company from the assets of Emirates Media Incorporated. Abu Dhabi Media CompanyAbu Dhabi Media Company employs 1100 people across its operating units which include publishing, television, radio, digital media, distribution, and printing.

Abu Dhabi Media CompanyAbu Dhabi Media Company owns and operates Abu Dhabi Television, Abu Dhabi Sports Channel, Emirates Television Channel, Abu Dhabi Radio, Emarat FM Radio, Holy Quran Radio, Sawt Al Musiqa Radio, Al Ittihad newspaper, Zahrat Al Khaleej magazine, Al Super magazine and Majid magazine as well as other businesses including United Printing Press.The company is headquartered in Abu Dhabi with offices in Cairo, Dubai and Washington D.C.

About Arvato Middle East Sales
Arvato Middle East Sales (AMES) a subsidiary of Bertelsmann's Arvato Group, provides an innovative range of digital entertainment content as well as innovative concepts and interactive solutions. The company considers itself to be a 360° manager along the whole digital value chain. AMES works with market leading network operators, internet service providers, media companies, license holders and brands across the Middle East, Africa and Asia territories. AMES is partner to big music labels and rights owner in the film, TV and games industries. AMES assures for its partners and customers the complete content, category and royalty management. AMES possesses state-of-the-art technology platforms for processing and distribution of digital content.

About Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann is an international media company encompassing television (RTL Group), book publishing (Random House), magazine publishing (Gruner + Jahr), music (BMG), media services (Arvato), and media clubs (DirectGroup) in more than 60 countries. Bertelsmann's claim is to inspire people around the world with first-class media and communications offerings - entertainment, information and services - and occupy leading positions in its respective markets. The foundation of Bertelsmann's success is a corporate culture based on partnership, entrepreneurial spirit, creativity, and corporate responsibility. The company strives to bring creative new ideas to market and create value.

Bertelsmann is comprised of the television channels, television production companies, and radio stations of Europe's largest entertainment group, RTL Group (RTL Television, M6, Five, Fremantle Media), and the more than 120 publishing houses of Random House, the world's largest trade book publisher (Alfred A. Knopf, Bantam, Goldmann). Gruner + Jahr is Europe's number one magazine publisher (Stern, Geo, Neon, Capital). The Sony BMG joint venture in the BMG division is synonymous with creativity and strong international music brands (Beyoncé, Dixie Chicks, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera). The Arvato media and communications services division brings together distribution, service centers and customer-relationship management, state-of-the art printing manufacturing, storage media production, mobile services, and comprehensive IT services. Bertelsmann's direct-to-customer businesses are unified within the Direct Group: book, DVD, and music clubs with more than thirty-five million members worldwide (Der Club, France Loisirs), as well as book retailers in France and Portugal. In fiscal 2007, Bertelsmann, with approximately 100,000 employees, generated revenues of 18.7 billion Euros.

Abu Dhabi Media CompanyAbu Dhabi Media Company Contact:
Sameh Zaki, Impact Porter Novelli
Tel: 00-971-50 904 6741
Email: zaki@ipn.ae

© Press Release 2008 from ASDA'A Public Relations

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