Release

SHOWTIME MAKES PODCAST HISTORY

SHOWTIME Starts Offering Free Downloadable, Exclusive Audio Interviews with the Stars of “WEEDS” and “BARBERSHOP”
 
LOS ANGELES, CA (October 6, 2005) — In a first for a premium network provider, Showtime Networks Inc. has launched exclusive audio download programming — now coined in popular culture as “podcasts” — for its critically-received original TV series WEEDS and BARBERSHOP.
 
“Our objective is to get a new audience to sample our programming, and there’s no better way to do that than to offer completely free, exclusive audio content from our shows like WEEDS and BARBERSHOP,” said Mark Greenberg, Executive Vice President for Showtime Networks Inc. “Given the widespread acceptance of portable audio devices, offering audio content for our shows is another way for those consumers to find our TV programming.”
 
Whether or not consumers are current SHOWTIME subscribers, they can simply go to the network’s website (http://www.sho.com/site/downloads/podcasts.do) at SHO.com, to subscribe to the free podcasts. New podcast episodes will be released weekly, which will include interviews with the producers and stars of both shows. Interviews are currently available with WEEDS stars Elizabeth Perkins, Tonye Patano, Justin Kirk and Kevin Nealon, and Executive Producer and Creator Jenji Kohan. The BARBERSHOP podcast currently features stars Omar Gooding, Anna Brown, Leslie Elliard and Barry Shabaka Henley. Additional interviews with show producers and cast members are also planned. The SHOWTIME podcasts are also available for free in the iTunes® Music Store.
 
Future podcasts are being planned for the upcoming premiere of MASTERS OF HORROR, a one-hour anthology series featuring a rotating wheel of noted film directors from the genre, for the third-season return of THE L WORD®, and for upcoming dramas SLEEPER CELL and BROTHERHOOD.
 
Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Viacom Inc., owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ and FLIX®, as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME® TOO™, SHOWTIME® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®, SHOWTIME BEYOND®, SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®, SHOWTIME FAMILYZONE® and TMC XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL HD™, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND™ and THE MOVIE CHANNEL ON DEMAND™. SNI also is an owner of the premium television network SUNDANCE CHANNEL®, which is a venture between NBC Universal, Robert Redford, and Showtime Networks Inc. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME® PPV. Additionally, the advertiser-supported television network SHOWTIME is available in Turkey through a joint venture with UK-based Zone Vision

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