SmartVideo Takes Over Vibe Magazine's Mobile Service

SmartVideo Technologies (soon to be uVuMobile) is buying out all the assets of the mobile version of urban music publication Vibe Magazine. uVu will now “manage the mobile platform/application itself (mVIBE) and all of the mobile assets, it transfers the contracts with the carriers to uVuMobile and it means that the company also acquires the existing subscriber base” of about 38,000.
UVuMobile will add its own offerings to the service as well as expand the marketing efforts. There will continue to be cross-promotional activities between the magazine and the mobile app, and I assume Vibe will continue supplying content — and upgrade that to audio and video streaming.
It seems that Vibe gets out of running a mobile portal, which I think might have required a bit more resources than the magazine had previously anticipated. Aside from a customer base and revenue stream, uVuMobile gets a shortcut onto the decks of some carriers. Similar to this deal in spirit is how AG Interactive has been handling another urban brand Def Jam Mobile for a long time now.

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