RealNetworks, Sprint set new info service

Associated Press

SEATTLE -- RealNetworks and Sprint plan to offer a new service Monday that will let Sprint wireless-data customers subscribe to news, horoscopes, traffic and other information from RealNetworks over their mobile phones.

The service marks the first time RealNetworks is offering a subscription to wireless phone customers as the Seattle-based company aims to spread its audio and video software and services from the desktop computer to the growing market of wireless devices.

The two companies will share the $4.95 a month fee that customers will pay to receive news and information from National Public Radio, CBS Marketwatch, Fox Sports and others, said Mark Donovan, RealNetworks' director of strategy and marketing. The wireless service is similar to RealNetworks' RealOne subscription for computer users who pay a monthly fee for exclusive news, sports and entertainment, and is also called RealOne.

Sprint has 2.1 million subscribers to its wireless data service.

RealNetworks declined to comment on whether it is in talks with other carriers about offering the RealOne program to their customers. But earlier this year, it offered news, movie times and other information for free to customers of AT&T Wireless, Cingular and T-Mobile who owned an advanced Nokia wireless phone and subscribed to those carriers' data services.

Starting Monday, RealNetworks will cut back much of the free content those customers can now access.