Sympatico-Lycos Broadband Verticals

Sympatico-Lycos (SLI) (www.sympatico.ca), a Canadian Internet portal, jointly owned by Bell Globemedia and Lycos, launched a series of online broadband content verticals.

The four verticals announced which cover News, Sports, Finance, and Entertainment, will provide SLI high-speed users streaming media content from Bell Globemedia's partners including key properties CTV and TSN, plus a variety of other online resources.

Each vertical includes streaming video feeds of national and international news from CTV; real-time sports headlines, analysis, and up-to-the-minute scores from TSN; stock quotes, and world market information from The Globe and Mail. The company stated that all streaming media would be presented at a minimum 150 kilobytes per second.

"The broadband verticals represent a perfect example of the Bell Globemedia convergence strategy," says Marc P. Tellier, president and CEO Sympatico-Lycos. "These exciting content partnerships, wrapped in dynamic high-speed broadband verticals, will ultimately drive the success of the Sympatico- Lycos broadband experience.

The company cited research from Media Metrix as an indicator of a market for broadband programming. The Media Metrix research found that Broadband users are also 1 1/2 times more likely to view movie trailers, listen to streaming audio and view streaming video than dial-up users.

"These verticals are a great example of how TV and the Internet are coming together to create a seamless audience experience," says Daniel Boisvert, chief marketing officer, Sympatico-Lycos in a statement. "This convergence offers companies innovative advertising and branding opportunities that are fueled by new levels of audience loyalty, and this aggressive step forward for SLI positions us to be leaders in the broadband market in Canada."

The company is touting the broadband verticals as a boon for online advertisers, as it allows for a wider variety of ads that are bigger and can hold more information than conventional online ads.

According to a recent report by Forrester Research, broadband adoption will nearly triple in Canada this year, from five percent to 13 percent of online households. It's forecasted that by 2004, 51 percent of online households will have broadband access.