AMC Renews Award Winning Drama Series Breaking Bad for Third Season

New York - NY, April 2, 2009 - AMC announces today the renewal of the award winning and critically acclaimed drama series Breaking Bad for a third season, continuing the network's momentum to deliver the best original storytelling and film library on television. Today's announcement coincides with Breaking Bad's win of the 2008 George Foster Peabody Award. Production on the third season is expected to begin later this year, with premiere slated for 2010.

"Breaking Bad is one of the most unique and layered dramas on television today," said Joel Stillerman, Senior Vice President of Original Programming, Production and Digital Content. "The Peabody win, the critical acclaim and strong audience growth for the second season reinforce that this is the kind of exceptional original storytelling AMC intends to deliver to audiences. Vince Gilligan and his team deliver bold storylines that truly push the psychic envelope and create a mesmerizing television experience. We look forward to an incredible third season."

Breaking Bad is a dramatic series that follows protagonist Walt White, a chemistry teacher who lives in New Mexico with his wife and teenage son who has cerebral palsy. White is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a prognosis of two years left to live. With a new sense of fearlessness based on his medical prognosis, and a desire to gain financial security for his family, White chooses to enter a dangerous world of drugs and crime and ascends to power in this world. The series explores how a fatal diagnosis such as White's releases a typical man from the daily concerns and constraints of normal society and follows his transformation from mild-mannered family man to a kingpin of the drug trade.

Breaking Bad stars 2008 Emmy� Award-winner Bryan Cranston ("Malcolm in the Middle," Little Miss Sunshine); Aaron Paul ("Big Love"); Anna Gunn ("Deadwood"); Dean Norris (Little Miss Sunshine); Betsy Brandt ("CSI"); and RJ Mitte ("Hannah Montana," "Weeds").

Breaking Bad's second season premiered on Sunday, March 8, to critical acclaim. The Hollywood Reporter exclaimed Breaking Bad is "television as God intended" and went on to note that the series "is indeed so flat out superb that it appears to be operating at a different level than just about everyone else..." Variety noted it has "...the jarring feel of a Tarantino film?" and that lead actor Bryan Cranston, who won an Emmy for Best Male Lead Actor for his performance in the first season, "continues to astound..."

To date, the second season of Breaking Bad Season has reached over 9.6 million viewers and more than 7.2 million households on AMC. It airs Sunday nights at 10 PM/9 PM C on AMC.

Season 2 credits:

Breaking Bad is produced by High Bridge Productions, Inc. and Gran Via Productions in association with Sony Pictures Television for AMC; created by Vince Gilligan; executive producers Vince Gilligan and Mark Johnson; producer Karen Moore; producer Stewart A. Lyons; consulting producer John Shiban; producer Melissa Bernstein; co-producer Sam Catlin; associate producer Diane Mercer; director of photography Michael Slovis; production designer Robb Wilson King; editor Lynne Willingham.

Filmed on location in Albuquerque, NM.

About AMC

AMC is a multi-platform network that celebrates movies and high-quality scripted series. Among the elite services available in nearly 95 million homes (Source: Nielsen Media Research), AMC defines what it means to be a movie network today, creating a distinctive viewing experience that celebrates all that is enduringly cool, personal and powerfully relevant about movies. AMC's comprehensive library of popular movies strike a meaningful chord with its audience, and its critically-acclaimed slate of originals all have a cinematic quality that allow them to complement and be complemented by some of the best movies of all time. AMC is a subsidiary of Rainbow Media Holdings LLC, which includes sister networks IFC, WE tv and Sundance Channel.

About Rainbow Media Holdings LLC

Rainbow Media Holdings LLC is a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC). Rainbow Media is a leading producer of targeted, multiplatform content for global distribution, creating and managing some of the world's most compelling and dynamic entertainment brands, including AMC, IFC (The Independent Film Channel), WE tv, Sundance Channel, IFC Entertainment and VOOM HD Networks. Through IFC Entertainment, Rainbow Media also owns and manages the following: IFC Films, a leading U.S. distributor of independent and foreign film with a unique day and date distribution model, "IFC In Theaters," that makes films available to a national audience by releasing them simultaneously in theaters as well as on cable's On Demand platform; IFC Festival Direct features titles acquired from major international film festivals and initially offers them exclusively through On Demand; IFC Productions, a feature film production company; and IFC Center, a state-of-the-art cinema in the heart of NYC's Greenwich Village. Rainbow Media also operates Rainbow Advertising Sales Corporation, an advertising sales company; Rainbow Network Communications, a full service network programming origination and distribution company; and 11 Penn TV, a company that manages Rainbow Media's NYC studios and post-production facilities.