Warner Bros. Digital Distribution And Warner Bros. Television Group Appoint Natalie Farsi To Head Up Mobile Business

(October 7, 2009 – Burbank, CA) – Warner Bros. Digital Distribution (WBDD) and Warner Bros. Television Group (WBTVG) have appointed highly respected digital media executive Natalie Farsi to a newly created position managing mobile business efforts. She will report to Brett Bouttier, Senior Vice President, Digital, Warner Bros. Television Group, and to Andy Mellett, Senior Vice President, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution. Farsi’s hiring coincides with an increased focus by Warner Bros. Entertainment on building mobile distribution and wireless ancillary businesses for its properties. In her new role, Farsi will work to expand the development, distribution and marketing of a diverse portfolio of mobile products, including ad-supported mobile web sites, applications, mobile games, video services and messaging products, for the Studio’s films, television series, home video releases and web sites. She will be Warner Bros.’s key negotiator with wireless carriers and mobile service providers. Additionally, Farsi will work closely with and provide counsel to the global sales and business development teams at Warner Bros. Digital Distribution and Warner Bros. International Television Distribution. “Mobile is one of the fastest-growing areas of our industry, offering numerous opportunities to build new and innovative distribution models that will positively impact our business and provide continued growth,” said Farsi. “Warner Bros. is committed to a long-term mobile strategy, and I couldn’t be happier to be part of this team, dedicated to broadening the Studio’s mobile footprint and generating revenue from the company’s collection of film and television programming via new and emerging mobile platforms.” Immediately prior to being named to this position, Farsi had served as a mobile consultant to the Studio since September 2007. Among other accomplishments, she was part of the team that profitably launched a multi-format mobile product suite for TMZ, including a popular iPhone application, a cross-carrier mobile web site – establishing TMZ as #1 for Mobile Celebrity News, according to The Nielsen Company for August 2009 – and video licensing deals with Verizon VCAST and AT&T, among others. In this role, Farsi also spearheaded the launch of the company’s first ad-supported mobile products, working with third-party mobile ad networks. Before that, Farsi was Senior Vice President, mCommerce & Content, for Fox Mobile Entertainment, based in Los Angeles, overseeing Fox Mobile Studios and the company’s direct-to-consumer mobile entertainment service. While there, she broadened and diversified the group’s content offering through deal making and partnerships, as well as overseeing content production, development and distribution. Prior to joining Fox, Farsi served as Vice President of Media at m-Qube, a pioneer in the mobile entertainment space which was acquired by VeriSign. Based in New York, Farsi developed strategic business partnerships with a number of leading entertainment and media companies – including CBS, Warner Music Group, MTV Networks, Universal Music Group, Samsung and many more – to launch new mobile products and direct-to-consumer entertainment services. From October 1997 to November 2003, Farsi maintained her own independent media consultancy, advising clients such as AOL, AT&T and TCI on the multiplatform distribution of interactive entertainment and music. Before that, she held management positions at America Online and Prodigy, where she ran ad-supported direct-to-consumer entertainment and music channels and helped launch a number of innovative interactive programming franchises. She began her entertainment career producing news programming for ABC and CBS owned-and-operated television stations in San Francisco. Farsi is a graduate of the University of California in Berkeley, where she earned a bachelor of arts in communications. # # #