NBA Fans in China Can Stay Connected to the NBA Anywhere, Anytime BEIJING, Sept. 14 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- KongZhong Corporation (Nasdaq:KONG) and the National Basketball Association (''NBA'') jointly announcedtoday a multi-year cooperation agreement and launched the official NBAChinese mobile website, the first-ever official NBA site on mobile phones.Yunfan Zhou, Chairman and CEO of KongZhong Corporation, Mark Fischer,Managing Director of NBA China, and NBA All-Star Yao Ming attended theannouncement press conference. Under the agreement, KongZhong will operate the official NBA Chinesemobile website, which users can visit on their mobile phones by directlyinputting CN.NBA.COM. The mobile website will broadcast live selected NBAgames in their entirety and provide video clips of NBA game highlights, thelatest news, scores, game and player updates, player interviews, blogs, TVschedules, wallpaper, ring tones, and more. KongZhong can also develop andmarket NBA-related wireless value-added products. KongZhong expects togenerate mobile advertising revenues and wireless value-added revenues, aswell as to increase the popularity of Kong.net. Basketball is one of the most popular sports in China, enjoying a massfollowing with more than 300 million participants, according to the ChinaSports Ministry, among whom the NBA enjoys increasing popularity withChinese basketball players Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi, Mengke Bateer and YiJianlian entering the NBA. In 2003, the NBA launched its official ChineseInternet site. In view of over 500 million mobile phone users in China, theNBA and KongZhong today launched the official Chinese mobile website toprovide the users with new ways to participate and enjoy NBA games and aconvenient and direct way to receive its most up-to-date informationwherever and whenever they want. Yunfan Zhou said, ''This cooperation symbolizes the rapid growth andthe significant influence of wireless Internet as the next-generationmedia. CN.NBA.COM will instantly bring NBA games and updates and create avirtual community for NBA fans. KongZhong will continue to work closelywith the NBA to bring more exciting contents to all the users.'' Mark Fischer said, ''This partnership with KongZhong provides our fansin China with yet another way to enjoy the NBA. We are thrilled to launchthe NBA mobile website in China.'' Yao Ming commented, ''This first-ever official NBA site on mobilephones will give fans in China access to the NBA anywhere, anytime.'' About the NBA The NBA, founded in 1946, is a global sports and entertainment brandthat features 30 teams in the United States and Canada. During the 2006-07season, the NBA distributed 45,000 hours of programming to 215 countriesand territories in 41 languages. The league's worldwide reach can also beseen with 85 international players on NBA rosters. The NBA's relationshipwith Chinese basketball dates back to 1979 when the Washington Bullets (nowWizards) traveled to China to play two exhibition games against the ChineseNational Team. Since then, the NBA has opened four offices in greaterChina, built relationships with 51 Chinese telecasters and organized dozensof grassroots events. About KongZhong KongZhong Corporation is one of China's leading providers of wirelessvalue-added services and a wireless media company providing news, content,community and mobile advertising services through its wireless Internetsites. The Company delivers wireless value-added services to consumers inChina through multiple technology platforms including wireless applicationprotocol (WAP), multimedia messaging service (MMS), JAVA(TM), shortmessaging service (SMS), interactive voice response (IVR), and colorring-back tone (CRBT). The Company also operates two wireless Internetsites, http://Kong.net [1] and http://Ko.cn, [2] which enable users to accessmedia, entertainment and community content directly from their mobilephones. Safe Harbor Statement This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within themeaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of theSecurities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements include,without limitation, statements regarding the development, launch,promotion, pricing and functionality of the Official NBA Chinese MobileWebsite, ''CN.NBA.COM'', the development of KongZhong's relationship withthe NBA and the impact of that relationship on the level of traffic to theKong.net wireless Internet portal, as well as on KongZhong's brandawareness, financial condition, results of operations and businessdevelopment in general. Although such statements are based on our owninformation and information from other sources we believe to be reliable,you should not place undue reliance on them. These statements involve risksand uncertainties, and actual market trends and our results may differmaterially from those expressed or implied in these forward lookingstatements for a variety of reasons. Potential risks and uncertaintiesinclude, but are not limited to, competitive pressure in China's wirelessvalue-added services, wireless Internet and mobile advertising markets andthe effect of such pressure on prices; changes in technology, consumerdemand and usage preferences in these markets; the state of and any changein our relationship with China's telecommunications operators; ourdependence on the networks and billing systems of the telecommunicationsoperators for our performance; changes in the regulations or policies ofthe Ministry of Information Industry or other relevant governmentauthorities or the telecommunications operators; and changes in political,economic, legal and social conditions in China, including the Chinesegovernment's policies with respect to economic growth, foreign exchange,foreign investment and entry by foreign companies into China'stelecommunications market. For additional discussion of these risks anduncertainties and other factors, please see the documents we file from timeto time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We assume noobligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this pressrelease, which apply only as of the date of this press release.
Links:
[1] http://kong.net/
[2] http://ko.cn/