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GO.com sites to be premier providers of news and sports content for Verizon Wireless' Mobile Web Service.

July 18, 2000 - GO.com (NYSE:GO) has reached an agreement with Verizon Wireless by which GO.com sites ABCNEWS.com and ESPN.com will be premier providers of news and sports content for Verizon Wireless' Mobile Web service, and Mr. Showbiz and the GO.com portal will be preferred content providers. GO.com is the Internet business of The Walt Disney Company, and Verizon Wireless is the largest wireless communications provider in the U.S.

As part of the agreement, GO.com will provide the following content:

  • ABCNEWS.com - news headlines and summary digests;
  • ESPN.com - sports news headlines and summary digests, and sports scores;
  • Mr. Showbiz - entertainment news headlines and summary digests, and selected applications such as the Movie Finder;
  • GO.com portal - stock information, weather, People Search white pages, Translator, Lottery, Horoscope, and more.

    "Content from sites such as ABCNEWS.com, ESPN.com and Mr. Showbiz, as well as the GO.com portal, is ideal for wireless applications," said Larry Shapiro, executive vice president, corporate development, GO.com. "Thus, as the wireless marketplace continues to expand rapidly, we are perfectly positioned as the leading supplier of timely, pertinent information to people on the move."

    "This agreement represents our commitment to introduce a complete range of customized information services for our Mobile Web customers," said Marc Lefar, Verizon Wireless' staff vice president, e-Business, Wireless Internet and Data Services. "The GO.com sites add real value to the service, driving users to rely on their mobile phone as an indispensable source of information that follows them anywhere. Mobile Web users have the ability to completely customize their wireless Internet experience based on their personal interests and needs, so if receiving news, sports or entertainment headlines is important to a user, they can easily configure their service to quickly access and receive that type of information via their wireless handset."

    Verizon Wireless yesterday launched its nationwide Mobile Web service, which combines the convenience and mobility of wireless communications with popular content from the World Wide Web. The Mobile Web service, which runs on Verizon Wireless' robust and reliable, coast-to-coast CDMA network, gives users access to the Web-based information they want via their wireless handset. About GO.com

    GO.com is the Internet business of The Walt Disney Company. GO.com manages some of the Internet's most popular Web sites, including the GO.com portal, as well as ABC.com, ABCNEWS.com, ABCSports.com, Disney.com, Disneystore.com, DisneyTravel.com, Family.com, ESPN.com, EXPN.com, Movies.com, Mr. Showbiz, NFL.com, NBA.com, NASCAR Online and Soccernet. Steve Bornstein is the chairman of GO.com, which is headquartered in North Hollywood, California, with operations in Sunnyvale, California, Seattle, New York, Bristol, Connecticut, and London.

    About Verizon Wireless

    Verizon Wireless is the largest wireless communications provider in the U.S. with more than 25 million wireless voice and data customers and nearly 4 million paging customers. The new coast-to-coast wireless provider was formed by the combination of the U.S. wireless businesses of Bell Atlantic Corp. (NYSE:BEL), Vodafone AirTouch Plc (LSE:VOD; NYSE:VOD), and GTE Corp. (NYSE:GTE). The new company includes the assets of Bell Atlantic Mobile, AirTouch Cellular, GTE Wireless, PrimeCo Personal Communications and AirTouch Paging. The new company has a footprint covering nearly 90 percent of the U.S. population, 49 of the top 50 and 96 of the top 100 U.S. markets.

    Verizon Wireless, headquartered in New York City and Bedminster, NJ, is 30,000 employees strong. Reporters and editors can find more information about the company in its Media Center n the Web at: http://www.verizonwireless.com/mediacenter.




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