Starz Entertainment Group Announces Ratings Climbed 18% in April Versus Year Ago

Boost Follows Re-branding of all 13 channels, Launch of Three New Networks

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., June 8 -- Starz Entertainment Group (SEG) announced today that the overall ratings for its 13 channels of premium television increased 18 percent in April versus the same month a year ago. The ratings improvement followed the March 28 launch of the largest re- branding effort in television history, encompassing new names and logos for all 13 channels and the launch of three new networks.

Ratings for the 13 channels in the Starz and Encore packages improved from a 2.2 in April of 2004 to 2.6 in April of this year, an increase of 18 percent, based on numbers from Nielsen Media Research.* Contributing to the gains were particularly strong performances by Starz Comedy, Starz InBlack, Encore Westerns and Encore Wam. The three new channels -- Starz Comedy, Starz Kids & Family and Starz Edge -- all performed as well as or better than the three channels they replaced (Starz Theater, Starz Kids and Starz Family).

"The aim of the re-branding and the new channel launches was to provide a better showcase for the broad array of movies that we bring to our viewers every day," said Jerry Maglio, executive vice president of marketing for SEG. "The April ratings are a good sign that this effort is producing results."

Maglio added that the on air graphics introduced with the re-branding are still being refined and improved and new interstitial and short form programming is being added to the linear channels as well as the on demand version of Starz. "As we continue to expand and refine our offerings, we believe that there will be even more room to improve the viewer experience," Maglio said.

* Source: NMR NHI HH total day coverage ratings April 2004 and April 2005. Subject to qualifications available on request.

SOURCE Starz Entertainment Group, LLC