'SCI FI FRIDAY' MAKES ITS TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO #1

New Seasons of 'Stargate SG-1,' 'Stargate Atlantis' and 'Battlestar Galactica' Make SCI FI #1 For the Night

New York, NY (July 18, 2005) -- SCI FI Channel reasserts its dominance on Friday nights. The July 15 (8pm-11pm ET/PT) season premieres of its 'SCI FI Friday' lineup of original series led SCI FI to the #1 spot on basic cable for P18-49 and P25-54. The season 2 premiere of the Channel's critically-acclaimed 'Battlestar Galactica' was the #1 program on television - including broadcast and cable - among M25-54 and M18-49.

'Stargate SG-1' (8pm) kicked off its record ninth original season with a 2.1 HH rating, 2,610,000 viewers P2+ and 1.6 million P25-54. With the revamped cast, which includes new team members Beau Bridges and Ben Browder, the series has been rejuvenated. Versus its January '05 premiere, Friday's 'SG-1' debut was up +5% in HH ratings, 5% in P2+, +6% among P25-54 and +8% among P18-49.

'Stargate Atlantis' (9pm) launched into its sophomore season with a 2.2 HH rating, 2,783,000 viewers P2+ and 1.9 million P25-54. Compared against its January '05 premiere, Friday's 'Atlantis' debut was up +6% in HH ratings, +6% in P2+, +8% among P25-54 and +11% among P18-49.

'Battlestar Galactica' (10pm) kickstarted its second season as the #1 program on all of television among M18-49 and M25-54 - beating every cable and network program that aired that night. The season 2 premiere also marked 'Battlestar's highest-rated episode to date. With a 2.6 HH rating, "Scattered" delivered 3,053,000 total viewers (P2+) and 2.1 million P25-54.

Other SCI FI highlights:

--SCI FI Channel was the #2 basic cable network on Friday night among P18-34, F18-49 and F25-54

--SCI FI had the #2, #3 and #4 programs of the night among P25-54 and P18-49

--'Stargate SG-1,' 'Stargate Atlantis' and 'Battlestar Galactica' were the Top 3 cable programs for the day among M25-54 and account for three of the Top 4 among M18-49

--'Battlestar Galactica' and 'Stargate Atlantis' were both ranked in the Top 10 cable programs for the day among F25-54 (#7 and #8, respectively). 'Galactica' also ranked #9 among F18-49

All three 'SCI FI Friday' series were honored with Emmy nominations last week for Outstanding Special Visual Effects. 'Stargate Atlantis' was nominated for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music.

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.