Cingular slams mobile portal with WWE stars

Provider offers 61 million AT&T customers exclusive access to video clips of wrestling bouts.

Eric Morath / The Detroit News

Can't wait to get home to see a Batista bomb, crippler crossface or other WWE antics? AT&T's Cingular Wireless might have your fix.

The cell phone provider and World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. plan to launch a mobile Web portal today that will give fans access to muscle bound combatants and their adoring divas, anytime, any place.

The launch comes just in time for WrestleMania 23, to be held April 1, at Ford Field in Detroit.

"The idea that 61 million subscribers can grab a photo off the site and text to their friends, 'Stone Cold Steve Austin is back,' is huge," said Shane McMahon, WWE executive vice president for global media, and occasional on-screen character.

This site, which is accessed through Cingular phones, gives mobile surfers video clips, and WWE-themed ring tones and wall paper.

To promote the event, the portal will feature "WrestleMania's Magic Moment" videos until the bell rings at Ford Field.

The services are available in Metro Detroit and 164 other metro markets covered by Cingular's 3G network. Subscribers, however, will have to grabble with fees. Cingular's basic video services, which will include some WWE content, cost $19.99 a month, on top of the calling package. A premium "Ringside" package is an additional $4.99.

While the portal is exclusive, Cingular is not the only carrier with WWE content. For example, Verizon offers the WWE SmackDown videogame and Sprint has a ring tone from WWE Champ John Cena.

The tag-team between AT&T and WWE could potentially pay dividends for both. WWE gains access to 61 million AT&T cell customers and AT&T can aim its products at WWE fans, 15 million who watch wrestling wekly.

Differentiating products is helpful in a competitive mobile phone market, said Roger Entner, a Boston-based wireless analyst.

"These types of wins help notch people toward certain carriers -- if they're big fans," he said. "It is always nice to have a marque name like WWE associated with your product."

Still he said most customers choose a provider based on coverage, quality and price.

The multi-year WWE agreement is a "pumped-up" version of the deals AT&T has with other shows, such as Fox's American Idol, said John Burbank, AT&T marketing vice president. Terms of the WWE deal were not disclosed.

"Our strategy is to work with big brands that have loyal and passionate fans," he said.

"WWE will craft exclusive content for us."

You can reach Eric Morath at (313) 222-2504 or emorath@detnews.com.