SYFY UNVEILS CELEBRITY IGNITERS FEATURED AT 2012 UPFRONT CELEBRATION

Musical Entertainment to Include Exclusive Performances By Young the Giant and DJ Spooky

Special Menu Created by Celebrity Chef Marcus Samuelsson

NEW YORK, NY - April 11, 2012 - In keeping with its tradition of presenting highly-imaginative and uniquely engaging annual Upfront events, Syfy has partnered with celebrities that will create the ultimate Igniter experience at this year's bash. Music sensation Young the Giant will entertain attendees with an exclusive live performance; guests will then celebrate with the famed DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid throughout the evening at a party featuring exclusive menu items curated by celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson. In addition, guests will hear a special message from Sir Richard Branson, and will get the chance to win an around-the-world, Upper Class trip on Virgin Atlantic.*

Syfy's Upfront will be held on Tuesday, April 24th at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. This year, Syfy and the featured celebrities will create an opportunity for guests to live like an Igniter, those highly imaginative people who shape the world in which we live and move brands forward faster. Syfy creates entertainment and experiences with the Igniters in mind and will introduce a new programming lineup to the advertising community. This year's slate introduces upcoming innovative entertainment experiences that extend well beyond the small screen, as with the highly-anticipated transmedia project Defiance, and builds upon the success of current hit series such as Warehouse 13, Alphas, Eureka, Face Off, Ghost Hunters and Being Human. For more, visit www.syfyigniters.com.

About Young the Giant

Young the Giant is one of America's hottest rising bands, whose addictive and heavy-hitting melodic smashes leave audiences utterly entranced. The band has meticulously written and crafted songs together for three years, lived out of shared bedrooms and messy suitcases for two years, and hopped on and off of planes, buses, vans, cars and their beloved bicycles for over one full year, having played more than 160 shows in the past 365 days on 3 different continents. Most recently, they have appeared on the national stage as musical guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live in early 2012, and were selected by MTV to perform at the 2011 Video Music Awards and MTV Unplugged.

To date, the band has received innumerable "Band To Watch" accolades from outlets like The New York Times, Spin and Nylon to name a few. And, with their singles "My Body" and "Cough Syrup" hitting #4 and #2 on the Modern Rock charts while reaching over 10 million YouTube views of their videos, clearly there's something undeniably special about this band.

About Marcus Samuelsson

Chef Marcus Samuelsson is an internationally acclaimed chef who has thrilled the food scene with a blend of culture and artistic excellence. His restaurant, Red Rooster Harlem celebrates the roots of American cuisine in one of New York City's liveliest and culturally rich neighborhoods. He is a co-founder of FoodRepublic.com - a website for men who want to eat and drink well, and to live smart.

Marcus caught the attention of the culinary world at Aquavit. During his tenure as executive chef, he received an impressive three-star rating from The New York Times, the youngest person ever to receive such an accolade.

In 2009, Marcus was honored as a guest chef at the White House under the Obama Administration, where he planned and executed the administration's first state dinner for the first family, Prime Minister Singh of India and 400 of their guests. He also had the honor of being invited to speak at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Most recently, Marcus has opened Ginny's Supper Club. Located beneath Red Rooster, Ginny's is a modern reincarnation of the glamorous speakeasies and Harlem nights of the Twenties.

About DJ Spooky

Paul D. Miller is a conceptual artist, writer, and musician working in New York. His transformative, groundbreaking work includes books, albums and film scores, and he is perhaps most well-known under the moniker of his "constructed persona" as "DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid." Miller has recorded a huge volume of music and has collaborated a wide variety of musicians and composers such as Iannis Xenakis, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Kronos Quartet, Kool Keith a.k.a. Doctor Octagon, Pierre Boulez, Killa Priest from Wu-Tang Clan, Steve Reich, Yoko Ono and Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth among many others.

Miller is currently a contributing editor to C-Theory and the Arts Editor of Origin Magazine, which focuses on the intersection of art, yoga and new ideas. He continues his globe-trotting series of live events; playing at festivals; performing solo, with chamber groups, dance groups and with orchestras; and giving talks at prominent universities and conferences.

About Sir Richard Branson

Founder, Virgin Group

In 1970 at age 20, Richard founded Virgin as a mail order record retailer and then as a record shop, recording studio and music label. Since then, Virgin has become one of the world's most recognized and respected brands, expanding into air and rail travel, leisure and hospitality, telecommunications, entertainment, health and wellness, space tourism, and clean energy through more than 400 branded companies in 29 countries with global branded revenues of $21B. A leader in product innovation and customer service, the Virgin family of airlines includes the US domestic Virgin America, Virgin Atlantic, and Virgin Australia.

In December 1999, Richard was awarded a knighthood in the Queen's Millennium New Year's honours list for "services to entrepreneurship."

Richard has been involved in a number of world record-breaking attempts since 1985. In 1986 his boat, "Virgin Atlantic Challenger II," crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the fastest ever recorded time. This was followed a year later by a hot air balloon crossing of the same ocean in "Virgin Atlantic Flyer." In 1991, Richard crossed the Pacific Ocean from Japan to Arctic Canada. In June 2004, he set the record for the fastest crossing of the English Channel by an amphibious vehicle to mark the 20th anniversary of Virgin Atlantic.

Richard's dream of opening the world's first commercial space tourism business was realized with the launch of Virgin Galactic. Based on the proven technology of Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne, Virgin Galactic will take passengers to suborbital space.

In 2004, Richard launched Virgin Unite to pull together the resources of Virgin Group internationally and, most importantly, Virgin's best asset - its people - to tackle tough challenges facing the world. In 2007, he joined Nelson Mandela, Gra�a Machel, and Desmond Tutu to form The Elders, a group of independent leaders that seeks sustainable solutions to global humanitarian issues. In 2010, he launched the Carbon War Room to mobilize capital, innovation, expertise and entrepreneurs to advance climate change efforts.

Richard is the author of "Losing My Virginity: How I've Survived, Had Fun and Made a Fortune Doing Business My Way," (Crown Business, 1998) "Screw It, Let's Do It: Lessons in Life" (Virgin Books, 2006), "Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur" (Virgin Books, 2008), and his most recent title, "Screw Business as Usual" (Penguin/Portfolio, 2011). Follow Richard on Facebook and Twitter (@richardbranson).

Syfy is a media destination for imagination-based entertainment. With year round acclaimed original series, events, blockbuster movies, classic science fiction and fantasy programming, a dynamic Web site (www.Syfy.com), and a portfolio of adjacent business (Syfy Ventures), Syfy is a passport to limitless possibilities. Originally launched in 1992 as SCI FI Channel, and currently in more than 98 million homes, Syfy is a network of NBCUniversal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies. (Syfy. Imagine greater.)

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*NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Sweepstakes ends at 7:30 P.M. ET on 4/24/12. Open only to legal U.S. residents, 21 or older and who are invited advertisers who attend the Syfy 2012 Upfront event held at the American Museum of Natural History on 4/24/12. Subject to complete official rules available at www.syfyupfront2012.com/officialrules