NBC PROVIDES SATURDAY-NIGHT LAUNCHPAD FOR SCI FI CHANNEL'S HIT SERIES 'BATTLESTAR GALACTICA' WITH THREE CONSECUTIVE EPISODES ON JULY 9

NBC PROVIDES SATURDAY-NIGHT LAUNCHPAD FOR SCI FI CHANNEL'S HIT SERIES 'BATTLESTAR GALACTICA' WITH THREE CONSECUTIVE EPISODES ON JULY 9

NBC Broadcast Precedes Series' Second-season Premiere on July 15 and Marathon of All First-year Episodes Beginning July 6

BURBANK - June 30, 2005 - The sky's the limit when NBC launches a special three-hour primetime showcase of SCI FI Channel's hit series "Battlestar Galactica" on Saturday, July 9 (8-11 p.m. ET) - less than one week before the second-season premiere of "Battlestar" that will also include a marathon of the series' first-year episodes.

The three "Battlestar Galactica" episodes to be featured on NBC are "The Hand of God" (8-9 p.m. ET), "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I" (9-10 p.m. ET) and "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II" (10-11 p.m. ET).

The second season of "Battlestar Galactica" begins on SCI FI with fresh episodes on Friday, July 15 (10-11 p.m. ET). In addition, a marathon of the first season's 13 hour-long segments will run in order on Wednesday, July 6, starting at 10 a.m. (ET).

"Battlestar Galactica" is delivering record-breaking numbers for the SCI FI Channel. Among adults 18-49 and 25-54, the April 1, 2005 "Battlestar Galactica" season finale delivered the largest second-quarter audiences for a primetime telecast in SCI FI Channel history.

"Battlestar Galactica" is the gripping drama of the last remnants of the human race and their struggle for survival. Desperately attempting to regain some semblance of normalcy after a devastating nuclear attack, humanity's few survivors are on the run from a sinister enemy and searching for a new planet to call home. Redefining the space opera with its gritty realism, "Battlestar Galactica" has distinguished itself by the intensity and present day relevance of its stories and the command performances of its ensemble cast.

Emmy Award winner Edward James Olmos ("Stand and Deliver," "Blade Runner") stars as Commander Adama, the hawkish military leader of the last surviving battleship. Mary McDonnell (NBC's "ER," "Dances with Wolves") is Laura Roslin, the President, who has her own convictions about how the human race is to survive. Katee Sackhoff ("The Education of Max Bickford") portrays Adama's best pilot, Starbuck. She and Apollo (Jamie Bamber, "Band of Brothers"), face their own set of challenges.

In "The Hand of God," when fuel supplies dwindle, the fleet must make a daring attack on a Cylon-controlled tylium mine. In "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part I," a supply patrol discovers a hospitable planet, while back on Galactica, Baltar, Lee and Kara find themselves in an awkward triangle. In "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II," as the fleet prepares to battle the Cylons for control of Kobol, the tensions between Adama and Laura finally explode.

On another Saturday night last January, NBC broadcast a three-hour version of the initial four-hour miniseries that led to the series.

"Battlestar Galactica" is from NBC Universal Television Studio, in association with SKY One. Ronald D. Moore and David Eick ("American Gothic," "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys") are the executive producers.

SCI FI Channel is a television network where "what if" is what's on. SCI FI fuels the imagination of viewers with original series and events, blockbuster movies and classic science fiction and fantasy programming, as well as a dynamic Web site (www.scifi.com ) and magazine. Launched in 1992, and currently in 85 million homes, SCI FI Channel is a network of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies.