CurrantBun.com Set To Relaunch

News International’s free internet service provider (ISP), CurrantBun.com, is to be relaunched on Monday 11 October, less than seven months after its launch (see The Sun Serves Up CurrantBun). The Sun-branded service is to be expanded to include content from the Times and the Sunday Times with the aim of attracting a broader, more mainstream audience.

When the service launched in March, News International said that a Times-based site would follow. The take-off of the ISP market, however, has convinced the group that an expansion of its current output would give it a greater lead. Combining the content and expertise of their top-selling newspapers and introducing services from other fields, it has created an open-access portal to expand its presence within the market. Links to Talk Radio’s TalkSport, with live and archived sports clips, and Scoot.com have already been announced and more are expected to sign up.

The new service will be called bun.com and will break from the directory style of portals towards a “content creation company”, according to spokesperson Felicity Campbell. Radical design work by new media specialist i-level has created an easily accessible site with multi-dimensional packages built around lifestyle sections. The TV section, for example, will include not only listings and reviews of programmes but will link to soap gossip and e-commerce portals to purchase a television set.

With 345,000 subscribers at the moment News International hopes to improve on this by targetting those new to the internet with a service which is accessible and easy to use. A new marketing director Kylie Sellick has been named to head a £4 million advertising campaign through TBWA GGT Simons Palmer aimed at attracting the first-time net user.

News International: 0171 782 6000