USA Network Announces "Show Us Your Character Contest"  3/16/06

VIEWERS GET READY FOR THEIR CLOSE-UPS WITH USA NETWORK'S SHOW US YOUR CHARACTER CONTEST

Nationwide Online Search for America's #1 Character Offers Fame and Prizes

New York, NY - March 15, 2006 - So you think you're a character? USA wants you to prove it by entering the network's Show Us Your Character Contest. From March 20th through April 28th, contestants can enter online at www.showusyourcharacter.com, with the winner being awarded the chance to strut his or her stuff in front of the entire country. Show Us Your Character is the next phase of USA's successful Characters Welcome branding effort that launched in July 2005. In addition to the contest, USA is creating a digital social network, the first time a cable television network has spearheaded such an endeavor.

With the launch of Show Us Your Character, the focus shifts from the characters on USA to those that populate cities and towns across the U.S.A. Web surfers who visit www.showusyourcharacter.com can upload their videos and pictures as well as create detailed character profiles they can share with the world. Among the features found on the site is the opportunity to meet and interact with like-minded people nationwide, send viral videos to their friends, vote for their favorite characters, engage in real-time chat and e-mail one another.

But the piece-de-resistance sure to attract a cast of characters is the Show Us Your Character Contest, offering fame seekers a chance to get their big break and share their fabulousness with the world. Contestants can enter by logging on to www.showusyourcharacter.com to demonstrate why they are unique by revealing personality, talents, distinctive ideas, wittiness, style, silliness, outrageousness and more.

All submissions will be reviewed by a casting agency that will whittle the field down to 30 finalists. The Grand Prize winner -- America's #1 character - will be selected by a panel of judges comprised of NBC Universal executives. Additionally, there will be a First Prize winner and Runner-Up chosen from among the finalists. America will also have a chance to chime in and, from May 8 - 19, viewers can vote for their favorite character finalists to win the Viewers Choice Award.

The Grand Prize winner will be seen in a national on-air campaign on USA Network; featured on the silver screen in AMC, Cinemark and Regal Entertainment Group's FirstLook movie pre-show and will get an exclusive Web series of his or her own, which will live on showusyourcharacter.com. In addition, the lucky person to earn this distinction will receive a MAC G5 Quadcore Desktop with 30" HD screen and a Sony HVR professional HD camcorder with which to create webisode greatness. The First Prize Winner receives a Sony DCR DVD Camcorder, with an Apple Video iPod going to the Runner-Up. The Viewer's Choice character will win $1,000 cash.

The entire Show Us Your Character campaign will be supported through an on-air image campaign highlighting real, unique characters from across the country. There will also be an impressive grassroots effort in five major markets - New York (Rockefeller Plaza 3/21, Times Square Block Party 4/23, Union Square 4/25), Chicago (Navy Pier 3/24 - 3/26), Los Angeles (Venice Beach 3/31 TBD, City Walk 4/1 - 4/2), Philadelphia (Rittenhouse Square 4/7, Headhouse Square 4/8 - 4/9) and Boston (Copley Plaza 4/14, Fanueuiel Hall 4/15 & 4/17). These cities will host mobile kiosks with web cams allowing potential characters to upload their videos or pictures to www.showusyourcharacter.com and learn more about the contest. Additionally, Character Ambassadors will tape "character clips" of pedestrians to upload to the website. Everyone captured on tape will be able to view their footage on the showusyourcharacter site, which allows them to email it to a friend and share their moment in the spotlight.

Pulling out all the stops, USA is also rolling out a guerilla casting call to encourage potential characters to register and upload their profiles. "Casting Call" posters will be distributed in the top 20 markets in various locations and the network will also blitz the web with a significant online presence via classified sites, career/job sites, social networking sites, dating communities, entertainment enthusiast sites, major portals, ad networks and search engines.

USA NETWORK is cable television's leading provider of original series and feature movies, sports events, off-net television shows and blockbuster theatrical films. USA Network is seen in over 89 million U.S. homes. The USA Network website is located at www.usanetwork.com. USA Network is a program service of NBC Universal Cable, a division of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production and marketing of entertainment, news and information to a global audience.

Source: USA Network Press Release