ITV Unveils Made-For-Mobile Show

ITV has announced its first made-for-mobile production, a celebrity interview show fronted by two former All Saints members and two presenters from Channel 4's T4.

Nicole Appleton and Melanie Blatt will star in The Hot Desk alongside Dave Berry and Emma Griffiths from music show T4, interviewing celebrity friends and contacts at movie premieres, parties, launches and backstage at gigs.

Every two-minute "mobisode" will be based around a sturdy office desk inspired by TFI Friday. The show is produced by Chris Gillett of UMTV who worked with Chris Evans on his Virgin Radio breakfast show.

The Hot Desk will be free to viewers and funded through sponsorship. Sponsors have not yet been confirmed, but are believed to include a handset manufacturer.

The ITV head of mobile, Melissa Goodwin, said the series was a way of "bringing music and entertainment to the masses" in a unique format by offering bite-sized chunks of entertainment on the move.

Broadcasters and publishers are increasingly exploring mobile content formats to reach younger viewers and find ways of making money from the format, which has deeper market penetration than computers.

The first Hot Desk interviews, made available on the ITV mobile site today, include an interview with Liam Gallagher on Hampstead Heath, along with interviews with Stereophonics, The Twang and Fightstar.

Sugababes, Girls Aloud, Johnny Vegas and more than 140 new interviews are also lined up, with new shows being filmed through the Christmas party season and up to the music festivals in Summer 2008.

Users are sent a link to the site by texting DESK to 83339.

ITV's other mobile content offerings have been built around existing shows such as I'm a Celebrity and The X Factor, which offered video clips, ringtones and wallpapers.

The broadcaster also operates TV on mobile services with several operators and mobile games services

Source: www.guardian.co.uk