MTV’s Urge and RealNetwork’s Rhapsody To Merge
Viacom’s Urge will merge it’s download store with RealNetworks’ Rhapsody according to reports. MTV’s Urge has gained very little traction since its debut last year in a partnership with Microsoft. So the real winner here is clearly RealNetworks who will get to use the MTV brand and television reach to their advantage.
RealNetworks desperately wants to give Rhapsody, a $12.99 per month subscription service, a boost in its ongoing battle to gain on iTunes. Most subscribers who actually use the service, love the offering, but it just doesn’t have the seamless sex appeal of the iPod/iTunes combo.
