Weekly diary
Activision Blizzard
StarCraft II’s Europe-wide release set for July 27
With the release of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty fast approaching, retailers throughout Europe are busy preparing their stores for the onslaught. A special page on the website (http://media.wow-europe.com/sc2/mo/fr/index.xml) lists those shops participating in the launch event, so gamers everywhere can pinpoint the nearest outlet. Get ready to join in on this epic adventure alongside scores of other fans, and be among the very first to open fire!
Universal Music Group
New album from Gilberto Gil
Fé Na Festa (Universal), the new album from venerable Brazilian music icon – and former minister of culture! – Gilberto Gil, is dedicated to baião (or forró), a musical genre from northeastern Brazil that boasts Asian, African and Indian influences. On this album, Gil delivers a touch of pop that in no way detracts from the freshness of the cheerful music characteristic of forró dances, striking just the right balance between tradition and modernity by featuring such typical baião instruments as the cavaquinho (a small guitar with four plucked strings), triangle and accordion. Gil is kicking off the album’s release with a tour of France that will include the Marciac Jazz Festival in Gers.
SFR
SFR launches “07” numbers for mobile phones in France
SFR is now assigning mobile phone numbers beginning with the new “07” prefix, which was created last year in response to the diminishing supply of “06” numbers. Some 100 million “07” numbers are now available to meet the coming years’ demand for new mobile phone numbers. SFR is offering “07” numbers to all new individual, professional and corporate mobile customers, while continuing to randomly assign the remaining “06” numbers to new accounts until they are all used up.
Maroc Telecom
MobiCash in Belgium
MobiCash, Morocco’s first money-transfer and payment service for mobile telephones, has just added a new option: international money transfers, which allow all MobiCash customers to receive money from abroad directly and at no charge. This service is initially being offered in Belgium, but will later be extended to other countries. MobiCash is easy to use and allows all mobile customers living in Belgium who have a Ping Ping account* to safely transfer money to family and friends in Morocco via their MobiCash account. By launching international mobile-phone money transfers, Maroc Telecom gives Moroccans living abroad a simple, fast, low-cost new way to transfer money. *Ping Ping subscriptions can be set up via www.4420.be or mobile phone.
CANAL+ Group
Even better performance
Canal+ pay-television channels* are performing solidly, achieving 9% audience share among pay-TV subscribers and placing third among traditional channels. Canal+ Sport led the way with 1.1%, closely followed by Canal+ Décalé, Canal+ Family (the fifth-place pay channel with 0.8%) and Canal+ Cinéma (0.6%). Comédie! ranked third among themed entertainment channels with 0.8% and InfoSport held the same rank among the most-watched sports channels for the first time, while Planète confirmed its leading position among lifestyle offerings with 1.3% and Cuisine TV maintained its own high ranking with 0.3%. For young viewers, the Télétoon/TéléToon+1 offering achieved 0.6% and Piwi reached 0.4%. This Médiamétrie survey confirmed the stable consumption of pay channels in a wider distribution network and TV viewers’ interest in high quality, specialized editorial content. *Source: Médiamétrie–Médiamat’Thématik – March-June 2010 (from March 1 to June 20).