Apple's market-dominating iTunes Store may have just been handed a healthy dose of competition. MTV Networks may soon announce a digital music partnership with RealNetworks, the purveyor of online
music subscription service (and iTunes competitor) Rhapsody. Telecom giant Verizon Wireless will sign on to supply mobile distribution for the joint venture's content.
These
partnerships are a response to Apple's meteoric rise as a consumer electronics and media-distributing giant. Rhapsody has always played second fiddle to iTunes, while MTV's previous online music
ventures failed to get off the ground. Apple's fierce hardware/distribution combination has allowed it to enter successfully into the mobile phone business, too, although the electronics was cornered
into an exclusive partnership with carrier AT&T. Understandably, Verizon was keen to bring a strong online music offering to its millions of subscribers.
Teaming up with MTV would
give Rhapsody a huge marketing boost, thanks to the Viacom giant's global brand recognition and distribution potential. Many TV channels, from Comedy Central to Spike TV to Nickelodeon, fall under its
umbrella. A deal could be announced sometime before MTV's Video Music Awards ceremony on Sept. 9.
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