Expansion in London, Santa Monica and Mexico City

BURBANK, CA --(May 12, 2000)-- Four Media Company, a subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation, announced that it has acquired all of the outstanding shares of Rushes Postproduction Ltd. ("Rushes") and West One Television Ltd. ("West One"), both in London, 525 Studios Inc. ("525") in Santa Monica, and Virgin Television de Mexico ("VTM") in Mexico City from Virgin Media Group Ltd. ("Virgin"). The transaction is valued at approximately $40.0 million and represents substantially all of Virgin's post-production businesses.

Commenting on the transaction, Robert T. Walston, Chief Executive Officer of Four Media Company, stated, "The acquisition of Rushes, 525 and VTM expands our market reach and relationships in the television advertising community. West One adds an impressive list of clients that produce television programming for the U.K. market. The powerful brand names of these companies combined with our existing worldwide operations further enhance our ability to satisfy the expanding global service requirements of our clients. Further, we are well-positioned to deploy a broad range of new services designed to facilitate the delivery of interactive content to television viewers in the U.S. and the U.K."

Kenneth Ibbett, Chairman of Virgin Media Group Ltd., stated, "We are pleased to complete this transaction with Four Media. Rushes, West One, 525 and VTM's future prospects will be significantly enhanced by Four Media's market position, client relationships and product and service diversity. We look forward to expanding Virgin's relationship with Four Media, as well as Four Media's parent company Liberty Media, on a variety of strategic fronts."

Virgin Media Group is the holding and management company for all of Virgin's media interests, encompassing book publishing in the U.K., radio operations in France, Virgin Digital Studios, investments in new media technologies like Firstart and Virgin.net as well as John Brown Publishing and Rapido TV.

Four Media Company is a leading provider of technical and creative services to owners, producers and distributors of television programming, feature films and other entertainment product both domestically and internationally. Four Media's client base includes the world's largest entertainment companies. As a result of its investments and acquisitions, Four Media Company is one of the largest and most diversified providers of technical and creative services to the entertainment industry, which enables it to offer its customers a single source for such services. Four Media Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation.

Liberty Media holds interests in a broad range of video programming, communications, technology and Internet businesses in the United States, Europe, South America and Asia.

SOURCE Four Media Company

CO: Four Media Company; Liberty Media Corporation; Rushes Postproduction Ltd.; West One Television Ltd.; Virgin Television de Mexico; Virgin Media Group Ltd.

ST: California, England, Mexico

 

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