Spike TV Orders College Football Comedy Pilot To Be Produced by Varsity Pictures' Brian Robbins and Lionsgate

Robbins Also Set to Direct "Blue Mountain State," A Half-Hour Comedy About A Big-Time Midwest College Football Program

NEW YORK, Dec. 19 -- Spike TV will tackle the crazy antics of a big-time Midwestern college football program in the pilot, "Blue Mountain State." The half-hour scripted comedy, in the vein of "Animal House," will be produced by Varsity Pictures' Brian Robbins ("Norbit," "Varsity Blues," "Smallville") and Sharla Sumpter-Bridgett and Lionsgate, with Robbins set to direct. The pilot was written by Chris Romano & Eric Falconer ("The Sarah Silverman Program", "Always Sunny In Philadelphia")

"Blue Mountain State" follows three incoming freshmen attending college football powerhouse Blue Mountain St. University. Former NFL running back and veteran actor, Ed Marinaro ("Monk," "8 Simple Rules," "Hill St. Blues") stars as the coach. "Alex," played by Darin Brooks ("Big Bounce") is a talented quarterback, content to ride the bench while partying with his best friend "Sammy," played by Romano, who aspires to be the school's mascot. "Craig," played by Sam Jones III ("Glory Road"), on the other hand, is the school's top recruit and future NFL pro whose life is already mapped out for him by his controlling girlfriend, "Denise," played by Gabrielle Dennis ("My Name is Earl"). The three must quickly adapt to college life and juggle football, girls, classes and nonstop hazing. The cast also includes "Thad," played by Alan Ritchson ("Smallville"), a senior on the football team who loves hazing incoming freshman. The pilot goes into production in February, 2009.

Spike TV is available in 97.7 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks. A unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV's Internet address is www.spike.com.

Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF) is the leading next generation filmed entertainment studio with a major presence in the production and distribution of motion pictures, television programming, home entertainment, family entertainment, video-on-demand and digitally delivered content. The Company's feature films have generated more than $450 million at the North American theatrical box office in the past year and Lionsgate has also forged leadership positions in television and home entertainment with the production of such critically-acclaimed television series as "Weeds" and "Mad Men," the distribution of "Tyler Perry's House of Payne," "Family Feud," "South Park," "Trivial Pursuit," "The Wendy Williams Show" and Tyler Perry's "Meet the Browns" and approximately 8% market share and the industry's leading box office-to-DVD conversion rate in home entertainment. Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 12,000 motion picture and television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate brand is synonymous with entrepreneurial innovation and original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the globe.