MTV Networks, Black Entertainment Television and Comcast Corporation Donate $25,000 in Support of Philadelphia's Children First Fund

MTV Networks, Black Entertainment Television (BET) and partner, Philadelphia-based Comcast Corporation, today announced a contribution of $25,000 to Philadelphia's Children First Fund, a charitable non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the School District of Philadelphia.

As part of BET, MTV Networks and Comcast's ongoing commitment to engendering meaningful change throughout the communities in which they operate, these companies donated a substantial portion of the funds earmarked for the 2005 Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM) "Thrilla' in Phila" Summit 05 kickoff party to the Children First Fund.

The CTAM Summit 05 is being held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center from Sunday, July 24 to Tuesday, July 26, 2005 and thousands of cable television executives from around the nation are attending. Party attendees were encouraged to make individual contributions of their own to the Children First Fund during the kickoff event, which was held on July 24. The check presentation was made today at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

"We're dedicated to enriching and contributing to the communities that we serve," said Nicole Browning, President, Affiliate Sales and Marketing, MTV Networks and BET. "Donating a significant part of our annual party budget seemed like a great way to further that goal. This year we threw a great party, that's a little scaled down, with the unprecedented added bonus of giving our guests the chance to support a wonderful and worthy cause."

"We're thrilled and honored to receive such a generous donation from MTV Networks, BET and Comcast," said Ellen Savitz, Acting Executive Director, Philadelphia's Children First Fund. "It is this kind of generosity that enables us to continue our work supporting the efforts of the 200,000 students, teachers, leaders and programs of the School District of Philadelphia."

School Reform Commission Chairman James Nevels and School District of Philadelphia CEO Paul Vallas also expressed appreciation to MTV Networks, BET, Comcast and the CTAM attendees for contributing to the Children First Fund and improving the lives of Philadelphia children.

Philadelphia's Children First Fund is a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation qualified as federally tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Children First Fund seeks to raise funds and identify time sensitive resources for programs and activities that support the educational mission of the School District of Philadelphia and the educational opportunities of School District students.

"Philadelphia is Comcast's home and its communities are important to us on many levels. Having the opportunity to give to The Children First Fund which helps students all over the city is fantastic," said Dave Watson, Comcast Cable's Executive Vice President of Operations. "Hopefully other organizations will take the opportunity to look at innovative ways they can contribute to their communities as MTV Networks and BET have."

MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom International Inc., is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. MTV Networks, with more than 100 channels worldwide, owns and operates the following television programming services ­ MTV, MTV2, VH1, mtvU, NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN, LOGO, MTVN INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV NETWORKS, a package of 13 digital services. All of these networks are trademarks of MTV Networks.

BET, a subsidiary of Viacom, Inc., is the nation's leading television network providing quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs programming for the African-American audience. The BET Network reaches more than 80 million households according to Nielsen media research, and can be seen in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. BET is a dominant consumer brand in the urban marketplace with a diverse group of branded businesses: BET.com, BET Digital Networks - BET Jazz, BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop, BET Event Productions, and BET Books.

Philadelphia-based Comcast Corporation is the nation's leading provider of cable, entertainment and communications products and services. It serves 21.5 million cable customers, 7.4 million high-speed Internet customers, and 1.2 million voice customers.

The Company's content networks and investments include E! Entertainment Television, Style Network, The Golf Channel, Outdoor Life Network, G4, AZN Television, PBS KIDS Sprout, TV One and four regional Comcast SportsNets. The Company also has a majority ownership in Comcast-Spectacor, whose major holdings include the Philadelphia Flyers NHL hockey team, the Philadelphia 76ers NBA basketball team and two large multipurpose arenas in Philadelphia.