Release

<span style="COLOR: black">YAHOO! AND SHOWTIME CREATE A FIRST FOR PREMIUM TELEVISION</span>

 
Acclaimed SHOWTIME programs to be streamed on Yahoo! TV as a free preview
 
 
SANTA MONICA, Calif. – October 2, 2006 - Yahoo! TV and Showtime Networks today announced an agreement to provide online users with Internet free previews of SHOWTIME programs on the Yahoo! TV site.
 
From October 6 through October 13, Yahoo! TV (http://tv.yahoo.com) will feature selected episodes of SHOWTIME award winning and critically acclaimed original series including Weeds, Dexter, Sleeper Cell and The L Word, and other select programming throughout the week. Users will also get a first look from the newest SHOWTIME original series, The Tudors, currently in production in Ireland and which will debut in 2007.
 
“We are continually looking for ways to offer our users the most compelling and entertaining online experience,” says Yahoo! Entertainment’s General Manager, Karin Gilford. “Through our new relationship with SHOWTIME we are able to provide users an early look at content that has never been available on the Internet before. As one of the top entertainment websites we are able to expose SHOWTIME to a wide variety of new viewers.”
 
 “Yahoo! TV’s online experience and their audience are great subscriber acquisition and program sampling opportunities for SHOWTIME”, said Len Fogge, Showtime Executive Vice President, Creative Marketing, Research and Digital Media.  “Yahoo!’s visitors will be able to see for themselves what the critics and subscribers have been talking about and offer consumers a new way to engage with SHOWTIME Original Programming”, he concluded.
 
Today’s announcement is a continuation by Yahoo! TV to provide its users with access to today’s top shows. And to that end, SHOWTIME, which garnered a record 19 Emmy nominations this year for its original series, will preview the network’s most talked about shows, including:
 
  • DEXTER, starring Michael C. Hall (Six Feet Under), is a new dramatic series that follows Dexter Morgan, an incredibly likeable forensics expert for the Miami Metro Police Department, who also happens to be a serial killer—but one with his own moral code in that he only kills criminals who can’t otherwise be brought to justice.  Dexter has been called one of the top five shows to watch this season by TIME Magazine.
 
  • WEEDS, the critically acclaimed SHOWTIME comedy starring Golden Globe® award winning actress Mary Louise Parker, is one of the most talked about series on television. Season Two continues the show’s unflinching, brutally honest and socially relevant take on drugs, family, suburbia and adolescence. 
 
  • THE L WORD® is one of the most popular SHOWTIME series, generating a large and loyal audience, as well as critical praise for its provocative, sexy storylines, its principal cast, and for being a magnet for celebrated directors and guest stars.  Since its debut in January 2004, THE L WORD® has become one of the rare television series to transcend the medium to become part of American popular culture, spawning dedicated fan websites and blogs, along with ancillary products such as THE L WORD®-branded perfume, jewelry and books.
 
  • BROTHERHOOD received some of the best reviews for SHOWTIME in its thirty year history. BROTHERHOOD centers around the Caffee brothers, who despite being on opposite sides of the law, are determined to protect the neighborhood and what is theirs by whatever means necessary.  The series stars Jason Isaacs ("The Patriot," "Harry Potter" films) as Michael Caffee, the gangster who returns to “The Hill” after seven years on the lam, and Jason Clarke ("Rabbit Proof Fence") as Tommy Caffee, the backroom-dealing local politician.  
 
  • SLEEPER CELL, nominated for five Emmy® awards, takes viewers behind the veil of a terrorist group and tracks the harrowing challenges faced by a FBI agent determined to learn its secrets.It folds current events and pertinent political developments into its storylines as it explores the personal and professional side of committed agents combating the greatest and most concealed threat in our nation’s history.
 
  • PENN & TELLER:BULLSHIT, the award-winning series featuring master showmen Penn & Teller, delivers viewers an aggressive, humorous exposé of taboo topics using the duo’s trademark humor, knowledge of carnival tricks and con-artistry, as well as hidden cameras and blatant confrontation 
 
  • THE TUDORS, SHOWTIME will take you behind the scenes of this exciting new show that is in production in Ireland and scheduled to premiere in 2007Golden Globe®-winner Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (“Mission: Impossible III,” “Match Point,” “Elvis”) stars as a young Henry VIII and is joined by Emmy® and Golden Globe®-nominated actor Sam Neill (“Jurassic Park,” “Little Fish”), Jeremy Northam (CBS’ “Martin & Lewis,” “The Net,” “Gosford Park”) and Henry Cavill (“Tristan & Isolde”).  THE TUDORS will focus on the rarely dramatized, tumultuous early years of King Henry VIII’s nearly 40-year omnipotent reign (1509-1547) of England. In addition to dalliances with famous female consorts Catherine of Aragon and the infamous Anne Boleyn, the series delves into Henry’s most notable political relationships, including those with philosopher Sir Thomas More, Cardinal Wolsey, head of the Catholic Church of England during its break with Rome, and Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk and Henry VIII's closest friend.
 
Yahoo! TV will also stream a variety of the cable network’s other programming including its successful SHOWTIME CHAMPIONSHIP BOXING series’ and some specially produced featurettes with the stars of its shows.
 
About Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo! seeks to provide online products and services essential to users' lives, and offers a full range of tools and marketing solutions for businesses to connect with Internet users around the world. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.
 
About Showtime Networks Inc.
Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, 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 is alsoan owner and manager of SUNDANCE CHANNEL, a venture of NBC Universal, Robert Redford and SNI. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution. 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.
 
Contact:
Yahoo! Media Group
Charlene Fitzgibbon, 310-907-3119
cenglish@yahoo-inc.com
   
Stuart Zakim
Showtime Networks Inc
212-708-1590

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