MSO to Provide Mag Rack as Value-Added Product to All Digital, VOD-Enabled Subs
(NCTA, New Orleans, NY, May 5, 2002) – Mag Rack, the exclusive video-on-demand service of Rainbow Media Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: RMG), has signed a long-term distribution agreement with Insight Communications, a leader in state-of-the art telecommunications and programming. Insight will provide Mag Rack to all of its digital, VOD-enabled subscribers beginning this summer. Insight is the first MSO to launch Mag Rack nationally, giving its customers the only service designed for and exclusively available via video-on-demand.
As part of the deal, Mag Rack video-on-demand programming will be rolled out across Insight's entire digital subscriber base, which includes systems in cities including: Lexington, Covington and Louisville, KY; Bloomington, Lafayette and Evansville, IN; Columbus, OH; and Champaign and Rockford, IL. Mag Rack's entire portfolio of 25 video magazines will be packaged as a value-added feature of Insight's advanced digital service. Mag Rack, the video magazine rack, derives its name and inspiration from the special interest magazines found on newsstands. Mag Rack offers authoritative, on-demand programming on personally relevant subjects ranging from motorcycles to Shakespeare, wine to weddings.
"Insight is committed to providing our customers with the best in on-demand content – what they want, when they want it," said Michael S. Willner, Insight's President and CEO. "To that end, we believe there is tremendous value in Rainbow Media's Mag Rack. Not only is Mag Rack completely unique from anything else on television, the range and depth of the programming clearly demonstrates the value and potential of VOD."
"Insight has been at the forefront of the cable industry's heroic effort to wire the nation, and a true champion of VOD," said Josh Sapan, president and CEO of Rainbow Media Holdings, Inc. "We couldn't be more pleased to join with them to offer their customers what we believe is the leading VOD service available today. We hope that it will be an important vehicle for driving the growth and development of their digital products."
In addition to providing personalized, on-demand content to their customers, Insight Communications will benefit from Mag Rack's unique cross-promotional capabilities through its marketing arrangements with Primedia and American Express Publishing. These alliances will allow Insight to communicate to customers highly specific, personal messages addressing individual interests and passions.
" Mag Rack will be a key partner in our marketing efforts as we continue to focus on driving digital subscriber growth," said Kim D. Kelly, Insight's Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer. "In combination, Insight's state-of-the art technology and Mag Rack's unique content will provide our customers with an entirely new, highly personalized television experience."
" Mag Rack's video magazines delve deeply into people's passions and bring them to life on television in a new and different way," said Matt Strauss, executive vice president and general manager of Rainbow's Mag Rack. "Together, with Insight's focus on increasing consumer value and Mag Rack's hyper-niche programming, we're not only providing next generation entertainment, but also making a strong case for digital cable."
Just like at a newsstand, customers can choose from Mag Rack's selection of "video magazines" that offer authoritative content about subjects that are personally relevant. Mag Rack is being marketed to cable operators, supporting the effort to rollout digital set-top boxes and drive VOD adoption by giving customers maximum programming choice and control. Video magazines available at Mag Rack include American Catholic, Art of Basketry, Best of Mag Rack, Better Golf Club, BirdSight, Classic Cars, Club Vegetarian, COOK with the PROS, Destination: Nature, History of Art, Inside Weddings, Maximum Science, Mission: Space, Modern Parent, Motorcycle Freedom, Healthy By Choice, Photography Close Up, Shakespeare, SportsCamp, Take On Life, The Bible and You, and Wine World. By the end of 2002, Mag Rack expects to offer as many as 40 video magazines.
About Insight Communications
Insight Communications (NASDAQ: ICCI) is the 9th largest cable operator in the United States, serving approximately 1.4 million customers. The company is highly concentrated in the four contiguous states of Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. Named "2001 Cable Operator of the Year" by Cablevision Magazine, Insight specializes in offering bundled, state-of-the-art services in mid-sized communities, delivering analog and digital video, high-speed data and the recent deployment of voice telephony in selected markets to its customers.
About Rainbow Media
Mag Rackk is owned and managed by Rainbow Media Holdings, Inc. a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE:CVC) and NBC. Rainbow manages American Movie Classics, WE: Women's Entertainment, Bravo, The Independent Film Channel, MuchMusic USA, Rainbow Sports Networks, News 12 Networks, and MetroChannels as well as the Rainbow Advertising Sales Corporation and Rainbow Network Communications. In addition, Rainbow is a fifty-percent partner in Fox Sports Net. Mag Rack is one of the assets included in Cablevision's Rainbow Media Group tracking stock (NYSE:RMG). MGM (NYSE:MGM) owns a 20% stake in four of Rainbow's national networks – AMC, Bravo, IFC, and WE: Women's Entertainment.