Virgin Mobile USA Debuts Homeless Youth TV, Online 'Reality' Network |
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By: Virgin Mobile USA, Inc. Posted: 2008-11-13 06:10:57 |
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Virgin Mobile USA, Inc. (NYSE: VM) is today announcing the launch of HYTV, the Homeless Youth TV Network, a new online campaign featuring such programs as "Meal or No Meal," "American Idle," "My Street 16," and "Project Runaway." Focused on raising awareness of the plight of more than one million youth living on the streets, HYTV delivers a new type of reality designed to raise awareness in November for National Homeless Youth Awareness Month, designated by the U.S. Senate.
"The personal drama found on HYTV is far more moving than your average episode of reality television," says Ron Faris, Director, Brand Development & Partnerships, Virgin Mobile USA. "Youth homelessness is not something that runs for a season and then goes off the air. Virgin Mobile USA is committed to getting people to pay attention to this important issue." Viewers can go to http://www.homelessyouthTV.com and "sponsor" their favorite program on the network for $1, the proceeds of which will be donated to various Virgin Mobile USA charity partners supporting homeless youth, such as Green Chimneys and StandUp For Kids. Viewers who sponsor a show will have their names listed in the show's "credits" and have the opportunity to promote the program to friends. Virgin Mobile USA will match the first $10,000 in total donations. HYTV is the latest project of Virgin Mobile USA's The RE*Generation, an ongoing effort in conjunction with Virgin Unite to empower a generation to help its own by connecting non-profit organizations to people and businesses who want to help. Since 2006, Virgin Mobile USA has donated over $3.5 million and nearly 200,000 articles of new clothing to help homeless youth. Last year, The RE*Generation effort, in partnership with singer/songwriter Jewel, achieved the designation of November as National Homeless Youth Awareness Month by Congress with the aim of drawing attention to this critical issue. "Like any network, we want people to watch our programming. The main agenda, of course, is to raise awareness and involvement with this invisible issue," added Faris. "We hope our shows motivate people to get off the couch and get involved." In addition, two winners (and their friends) will be selected at random from a text-to-win campaign to participate in the HYTV's first-ever "real" reality show: an opportunity to spend "24 Hours on the Street" with former reality TV star and 2006 "American Idol" contestant, Ace Young. Interested contestants can text "REAL" to 99464 for the opportunity to win (standard text messaging rates apply). The video project, examining the world of homeless youth, will debut at http://www.VirginMobileUSA.com/regeneration in 2009. About Virgin Mobile USA, Inc. Virgin Mobile USA, Inc. (NYSE: VM), through its operating company Virgin Mobile USA, L.P., offers more than five million customers control, flexibility and choice through Virgin Mobile's Plans Without Annual Contracts and postpaid offerings through Helio By Virgin Mobile, with national coverage for both powered by the Sprint PCS network. Virgin Mobile USA, known for its award-winning customer service, was recently rated the best prepaid wireless service for the third year in a row in the Annual PC Magazine Readers' Choice Survey, with 90% of its own customers reporting satisfaction with its service. Virgin Mobile USA allows customers to earn free minutes in exchange for viewing advertising content online through the innovative Sugar Mama program. Virgin Mobile USA's full slate of smart, stylish and affordable handsets are available at approximately 40,000 top retailers nationwide and online at http://www.virginmobileusa.com with Top-Up cards available at more than 140,000 locations. Helio's advanced devices like the Ocean and unlimited All-in voice plans can be explored at http://www.helio.com. About Virgin Unite Virgin Unite is the not-for-profit foundation of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group. We work with great partners all over the world to develop new approaches to social and environmental issues. We're fortunate that Richard and the Virgin Group pick up our overhead costs, so 100% of all donations go directly to the frontline where it is needed the most. We believe that the only way we are going to drive the scale of change that needs to happen in the world, is if we revolutionize the way that the business and social sectors work together. We want to use all the entrepreneurial energy across the Virgin Group to help drive this revolution. For more information please visit http://www.virginunite.com. |
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