(20 September 2006 6:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) has expanded its mobile entertainment team to better serve its existing and new clients.

SPTI is adding executives to oversee its mobile teams in Asia-Pacific and Latin America, and providing additional support from SPTI's headquarters in Culver City, California.

SPTI senior VP, mobile entertainment, Jason Wells says, "Sony Pictures is firmly committed to growing its mobile entertainment business, and is dedicating significant resources to ensure its future growth. With the global team in place, SPTI's mobile entertainment group will provide not only content from blockbuster movies such as Casino Royale, but also be a single source for SPE's integrated mobile offerings ranging from TV series on mobile to interactive games."

In the Asia-Pacific region, SPTI's mobile entertainment team has appointed Rosemary Tan as director, mobile entertainment, Asia-Pacific, reporting to Wells. Based at SPTI's Asia headquarters in Hong Kong, Tan joins SPTI from Universal Music Asia in Hong Kong where she was regional new media director and head of new media business development since 2003.

Andy Bishop, based in Los Angeles, has been promoted to VP, sales and business development, mobile entertainment. Reporting to Wells, he will be directly responsible for sales and distribution in Canada, Latin America and Brazil, and will work with all of SPTI's regional offices around the world, overseeing business development and sales strategy with mobile operators and other strategic wireless partners worldwide.

He was previously SPTI's director, business development and sales planning, mobile entertainment. Prior to joining Sony, he was manager, business development at Disney.

SPTI's mobile entertainment team has also expanded in Latin America with the appointment of Stephen Brough as director, mobile entertainment, Latin America, reporting to Bishop. Based at SPTI's Latin American headquarters in Miami, Brough heads the mobile entertainment team for the region. Brough and his team are responsible for business development and the sale of mobile TV/video, games and personalization products to mobile operators and customers throughout the region.

Brough previously held a number of executive positions at VSNL International (formerly Teleglobe) in Miami since 2003, most recently as mobile content sales specialist. Prior to that, he served in various executive posts at Sirius Telecom in Santa Barbara, CA, Vonova Communications in Austin, and at Ernst & Young Consulting in Buenos Aires and Lima. He began his career as a business consultant at Andersen Consulting working in Dallas, Kansas City, and New York.

SPTI's mobile entertainment team is charged with extending Sony's theatrical and TV assets, as well as its range of custom-made mobile content, into mobile distribution outside the US. With mobile product such as the James Bond franchise, the Ratchet and Clank Going Mobile game adaptation from the popular Sony PlayStation franchise, and Spider-Man 3 mobile content, SPTI is the international distribution and marketing arm for SPE's portfolio of mobile content, including mobile games, such as Wheel of Fortune, tones, images, video and text programmes.