Contact Information: iMedia Company Contact: Scott Kapp 310-577-8255
Hollywood Previews to Power Co-Branded Online Video Entertainment Channel for Los Angeles Newspaper Group
LANG Licenses Hollywood Previews for Its Nine Daily Newspapers and LA.com Online Guide
| Source: iMedia International, Inc.
SANTA MONICA, CA--(Marketwire - February 7, 2008) - iMedia International, Inc. (PINKSHEETS : IMED ), a provider of digital entertainment content for the publishing
industry, today announced that the Los Angeles Newspaper Group (LANG) has
licensed iMedia's Hollywood
Previews to provide online video entertainment content for the group's
LA.com Network. The network, which attracts more than 2.4 million unique
visitors each month, includes nine daily newspapers and LA.com, a print and
web-based insider's guide to Los Angeles. Hollywood Previews, which is
owned by iMedia, and marketed and
syndicated to newspapers by Universal Press Syndicate (UPS), provides
thousands of pages of entertainment content, including more than 2,500
videos and exclusives.
The nine daily newspapers that are part of LANG are the Los Angeles Daily
News, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Long Beach Press Telegram, Torrance
Daily Breeze, Pasadena Star News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Redlands
Daily Facts, San Bernardino Sun and Whittier Daily News. Visitors to the
newspapers' web sites now have access to a co-branded entertainment channel
powered by Hollywood Previews featuring exclusive videos, images and
stories about the latest movies, music, DVDs, red carpet events and video
games.
"Our users turn to the LA.com site for everything L.A.; from the best
places to eat and hang out, to the latest pop culture news and information
on local celebrities," said Jason Middleton, editor of LA.com. "While our
site serves the heart of Hollywood, our newspapers are still focused on
providing the best coverage of local news, people, businesses and events
within their communities. Hollywood Previews complements the information
delivered through LA.com while providing our users with up-to-date,
high-quality digital entertainment content."
Hollywood Previews is a
hosted solution that can quickly be integrated into publishers' existing
online environments. The service was developed to help publishers meet
consumers' appetites for general entertainment content while adding
premium, incremental ad inventory for newspapers' web sites. Hollywood
Previews can also be customized to meet the needs of community weeklies, as
well as large metropolitan dailies.
"Hollywood Previews is a turn-key solution that allows local newspapers,
such as the LANG newspapers, to focus their resources on providing its
readers with local news and information while still being able to deliver
the latest buzz from the entertainment world," said Henry Williamson,
chief executive officer of iMedia.
"In addition, LA.com is a trusted resource for residents and visitors of
the Los Angeles area, and we are excited to now be a part of the community.
We appreciate the trust that LANG has in our solution, and look forward to
a mutually beneficial partnership."
About Universal Press Syndicate
Universal Press Syndicate is the largest independent newspaper syndicate in
the world and the industry leader in bringing products and services to
print and digital media that offer both advertising and subscriber
opportunities. Headquartered in Kansas City, Mo., Universal Press
Syndicate distributes some of the most popular comics and features in
newspapers today, including Dear Abby, For Better or For Worse, Doonesbury,
FoxTrot, Cathy, Garfield, The Mini Page and Ziggy. Its features list
ranges from Pulitzer Prize winners Roger Ebert, Pat Oliphant, Anna
Quindlen, Ben Sargent, Tom Toles and Garry Trudeau to famed columnists
William F. Buckley, Jr. and James J. Kilpatrick. Special projects,
designed as revenue solutions for newspapers and their web sites, include
mobile opportunities and other digital products such as Hollywood Previews,
a robust co-branded entertainment video web site. Andrews McMeel Universal
(AMU) is the corporate parent company that includes Universal Press
Syndicate (UPS), Andrews McMeel Publishing (AMP) and uclick
(www.ucomics.com).
About iMedia International, Inc.
iMedia International (PINKSHEETS : IMED ) is an interactive content solutions
company focused on syndicating general entertainment content and producing
custom CD-ROM solutions featuring the company's proprietary campaign
management system, iReporting™. iMedia syndicates its content to
publishers around the world seeking high value, low cost general
entertainment category content. Publishers use either iMedia's flagship
product, Hollywood Previews, a hosted, managed solution, or they purchase
direct content feeds to capture a share of the multi-billion dollar online
and mobile advertising markets. iMedia's Digital Direct business leverages
the company's entertainment content development and distribution experience
to help large organizations reach customers with measurable, interactive
CD-ROM-based marketing programs. The company's Digital Direct customers
include, American Express, Chrysler, Fox Entertainment, General Motors,
Mazda, NBC Entertainment, Wynn Hotel, The Los Angeles Dodgers, and many
more Fortune 500 companies. For more information on iMedia International,
visit www.imedia-us.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
The information in this news release includes certain forward-looking
statements that are based upon assumptions that in the future may prove not
to have been accurate and are subject to significant risks and
uncertainties, including statements regarding the future financial
performance of the Company. Although the Company believes that the
expectations reflected in its forward-looking statements are reasonable, it
can give no assurance that such expectations or any of its forward-looking
statements will prove to be correct. Factors that could cause results to
differ include, but are not limited to, successful performance of internal
plans, product development and acceptance, the impact of competitive
services and pricing, general economic risks and uncertainties, and various
other information detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with
the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company
undertakes no obligation to publicly revise these forward-looking
statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date
thereof. Please refer to the reports previously filed with the SEC by the
Company at http://www.sec.gov.