Arsenal in Chinese deal

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The Premier League club has agreed an exclusive deal with China.com Inc. to launch an official Chinese website and wireless services in Greater China. The website will target more than a hundred million fans across Greater China and the global Chinese community.

Under the terms of the deal, China.com - a mobile value added services (MVAS), internet portal, and online game provider - will be the exclusive partner and provider of internet and mobile applications and services. It will serve the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan.

The website will be operated, hosted and promoted by China.com and will provide fans across Greater China with the latest team news, match scores, statistics and player profiles, as well as player interviews and photo galleries.

Planned interactive features include chat rooms, a video clip library, online games, downloads, an online forum and an e-shopping platform.

In addition, China.com will also offer a variety of content to via its wireless platform through SMS (short messaging services), WAP (wireless application protocols), MMS (multimedia messaging services) and IVR (interactive voice response).

It follows an exclusive arrangement with Champions League winners Liverpool announced last week.

Rudy Chan, CEO of China.com Inc., said: "According to official statistics, China alone has over 100 million football fans and over 80,000 registered players.

"We believe there is a significant opportunity for China.com and Arsenal to reach out to the China market as CSM (CVSC-SOFRES Media) research in 2004 showed 60 per cent of adult males in China closely followed the English Premier League matches shown in the national Dragon TV and 30 local TV stations."