@ AOP: UK’s ITV Plans Social Net & Soccer For Mobile Drive

The UK’s troubled commercial TV leader ITV (LSE: ITV) will launch a new mobile site for its Friends Reunited network in the next few months – and plans to use football to popularise the medium. ITV mobile head Melissa Goodwin told a mobile content session at the Association of Online Publishers conference in London on Wednesday the broadcaster must have a presence “in every single bit of mobile”. She said there would be a new mobile site for the ITV-owned Friends Reunited social networking in the next few months, including two iPhone apps.

Goodwin said football was a big driver for mobile traffic and would continue to grow. ITV, like many UK newspaper publishers, has signed up to show broadband Premier League highlights through rights held by Virgin Media (NSDQ: VMED) and Perform Group – something that’s also ripe for taking to mobile. Goodwin said fans should be able to use ITV Mobile to watch goals from England’s World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan on November 11 – “within two minutes of it happening”. More detail at paidContent:UK