Starwave Mobile Kicks off the Year with Five New Licensing Deals; Mobile Publishing Group Scores On The Blacktop And Beyond With AND 1, Some New ``Friends'' And More

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 7, 2006--Starwave Mobile, a mobile licensing and publishing unit of the Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG), today announced exclusive(a) licensing agreements with five popular entertainment and lifestyle brands, including footwear and apparel company AND 1 and Mondo Media's cult hit Happy Tree Friends as well as upcoming film "Alex Rider: Stormbreaker," astrology phenomenon AstroStyle, and Chub City(R), a new toy line by Jada Toys(R). Content for each brand currently is in development and will include a variety of mobile services and entertainment, ranging from video, graphics and ringtones to informational services. Specific offerings will vary between properties.

"The explosion of the mobile content market, particularly within the entertainment and lifestyle genres in which these brands play, continues to fuel Starwave Mobile's growth," said Larry Shapiro, executive vice president and general manager, Starwave Mobile. "We look forward to collaborating with each of these new licensees, providing the brands with a swift path to consumer handsets and exposure to new audiences."

“We look forward to collaborating with each of these new licensees, providing the brands with a swift path to consumer handsets and exposure to new audiences.”

New Starwave Mobile licenses include:

-- "Alex Rider: Stormbreaker" - "Stormbreaker," the first in a series of eight best-selling novels about the adventures of hip young spy Alex Rider, is set to make its film debut in August 2006 through the Weinstein Company in North America and leading companies in all other countries. The film is a Samuelson Production and stars Sarah Bolger, Robbie Coltrane, Stephen Fry, Damian Lewis, Ewan McGregor, Bill Nighy, Sophie Okonedo, Alex Pettyfer, Missi Pyle, Andy Serkis, Alicia Silverstone, Ashley Walters and Mickey Rourke. Starwave Mobile will publish a full lineup of mobile offerings based on the film.

-- AND 1 - Starwave Mobile will unleash mobile access to the world of basketball, both in the playground and on the court, with AND 1 (www.and1.com), maker of performance basketball footwear and apparel "for players with serious game." Well-known for its worldwide streetball phenomenon, The AND 1 Mix Tape(R) Tour, the company is all about ball. AND 1 offers a complete product line for those who hoop, including footwear, apparel, accessories and array of products including mix tape DVDs and an upcoming streetball videogame. AND 1 products are sold in more than 100 countries around the world, worn by several international basketball teams and is popular among NBA stars such as Marcus Camby (Denver Nuggets), Rafer Alston (Houston Rockets) and Bobby Jackson (Memphis Grizzlies), among others.

-- AstroStyle - From the official astrologers for Teen People magazine and AOL's Teen Channel, AstroStyle's mission is to empower women and girls to express their individual style through their astrological sign. Developed by the AstroTwins(TM), identical twin sisters Ophira and Tali Edut, AstroStyle (www.astrostyle.com) puts a fresh and hip twist on traditional horoscopes. As part of the new licensing deal, Starwave Mobile will develop an astrological mobile application based on AstroStyle's dynamic service, which applies astrology to style, celebrities, life and romance.

-- Chub City(R) - Produced by Jada Toys(R) Inc., Chub City(R) (www.chubcity.com) is a toy line of "tricked out" die-cast and radio-controlled cars and adorable, hip, young characters who are passionate about sports, art and music. Although each of the characters has a very different personality, they are bonded by their love for tricked-out rides and their quest for stardom and success. Starwave Mobile will develop content based on the toy line.

-- Happy Tree Friends - Cute, cuddly and horribly wrong, Mondo Media's Happy Tree Friends (www.happytreefriends.com) stars a host of adorable animated forest animals that face eye-popping calamities at every turn. What started as a series of animated online shorts in 2000 has since made the transition from cult-hit status to a mainstream international online, DVD, and television phenomenon as seen on G4 TV. Via the agreement brokered by Signatures Network, the exclusive licensing agent for Happy Tree Friends, Starwave Mobile and Mondo Media will ride this momentum to the mobile space with content, including video, voicetones and mobile greetings.

About Starwave Mobile

A unit of the Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG), Starwave Mobile licenses and publishes content from third-party companies and non-Disney brands from within The Walt Disney Company. WDIG relaunched the Starwave brand in fall 2004 as its third-party publishing arm for mobile content. This strategic expansion of its wireless business leverages WDIG's established content and operations teams and its global industry distribution relationships to a wide range of content beyond Disney-branded properties.

Starwave Mobile maintains key relationships with all of the major U.S. carriers, and its content has launched in several international markets. Current licenses include Trivial Pursuit(R), Consumer Reports(R), Rubik's(R) and National Lampoon, among others.

(a) Worldwide licenses include AND 1, Chub City and "Alex Rider: Stormbreaker" (excluding U.K.). North American (U.S. and Canada) licenses include Happy Tree Friends and AstroStyle.