GMA unit forms JV with Manila Jockey Club

MANILA, Philippines - Media solutions firm GMA New Media Inc. and Manila Jockey Club have formed a P100-million joint venture corporation as part of efforts to expand the market of the present horse-racing industry.

 The new firm called Gamespan Inc. intends to operate and manage the totalizator hardware and software owned by MJC. It also plans to set-up new media infrastructure for offering and taking bets in horse racing and other sports.

Apart from this, Gamespan will have the exclusive broadcast rights to all the races and other games operated by MJC which it may distribute to different broadcasters to maximize viewership and participation.

The partnership is expected to boost GMA Network Inc.’s revenues and expand the reach of betting.

New Media, a wholly-ownd unit of GMA-7, will provide the technology needed to make horse-racing betting available over the internet and mobile phones.

New Media is a multimedia technology value-added service provider established in July 2000. It has launched category-breaking projects in mobile, Web, digital TV and other emerging platforms.

It introduced SMS technology to Philippine broadcast television and was the first to launch an interactive chat and gaming show called Txtube.

Among its most recognized innovations are the first landline telegaming segment called PLDT Playtym and the first made-for-TV interactive game show, Txters V.

New Media owns the leading celebrity mobile phone portal, Fanatxt, and powers all the SMS-TV campaigns of GMA. It has a major stake in some of the Philippines’ most successful online properties such as GMANews.tv and Pep.ph.