Vivendi has launched the beta version of its pay content portal zaOza. For EUR 3 per month, subscribers will be offered unlimited access to exclusive content, to download and share via PCs and some mobile phones, writes Les Echos. Vivendi presented the project at a press conference, explaining that the beta service is available to around 116,000 people who signed up free of charge since November. Customers will start to pay the subscription fee from the middle of March, when the zaOza service will be distributed by mobile operators Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom. Content will include animated film episodes, images and exclusive ringtones. Users will be able to keep the content after they cancel their subscription. Vivendi Mobile Entertainment managing director Cedric Ponsot, said the company was aiming for 500,000 paying subscribers by the end of the year. He added that the DRM system used with zaOza means that the service will not be available to iPhone owners. Vivendi intends to extend the service to Germany later this year. Depending on its success in France and Germany, it could be launched in Spain, the UK, Benelux and Italy.
