Guardian Enterprise Group to Launch New U.S. Digital Network

COLUMBUS, November 2:
Guardian Enterprise Group (GEG) is set to roll out its new multicast digital
broadcast channel, .2Network, in the U.S. on February 3, 2008, which at launch
will feature more than 300 films and TV series licensed from Sony Pictures Television
(SPT).

Dubbed “Network-in-a-Box,”
.2Network will be the first digital broadcast network to provide local station
affiliates with a uniform, national network platform. It will allow stations a
24/7 option to simply “plug and play” the network onto their current available
and unused digital multicast channel positions and receive immediate
non-traditional revenue (NTR) in the form of revenue sharing. Station
affiliates can customize and localize their digital channel by pre-empting portions
of the 24/7 feed and re-purposing and inserting their main channel’s local
news, traffic and weather or other public interest programming and receive
local barter spots throughout the day.

Among the 300 SPT titles
acquired by .2Network are films such as The Pink Panther, Stuart Little 3, Marie Antoinette, All The King’s Men, RV, Stranger Than Fiction,
Seraphim Falls, Gridiron Gang, Reign Over Me, Monster House, Surf’s Up, Second
Chance and Premonition. .2Network will be offering up digital broadcast
premieres for many of these titles. Four television series were also picked up
from SPT.

In addition to its
licensing deal with SPT, .2Network has signed multiple-year deals for
programming with a number of major studios. .2Network plans to offer three
theatrical-quality movies daily, original network programs, multiple television
series, lifestyle shows and FCC compliant E/I children’s programming.

“The best part is the
network’s unique name and logo, which enables local affiliates to extend their local
brand,” said .2Network’s president, Richard C. Schilg. “In the digital world,
each main channel has multiple sub-channels identified as .2, .3, .4, and .5.
For example, a current main broadcast channel (7) will add the co-brand of
.2Network as (7.2Network).”

Headquartered in Columbus,
Ohio, Guardian Enterprise Group is a privately held company that operates
through two groups: an Entertainment Group and a Services Group. In the
Entertainment Group, GEG operates Guardian Studios, the producer of the stand-up
comedy show Bananas, which is
distributed by EMI in retail and is distributed worldwide for television and
Internet by Sony Pictures Television (SPT). Guardian Studios also produces Taylor’s
Attic, an E/I children’s sitcom
with puppets, and Comedy-At-Large,
a reality comedy series, both
licensed to ILife cable network and retained by GEG for broadcast distribution.
In addition, GEG operates a satellite television network called GTN on a small
DBS system along with other networks like Fox News, HGTV and Hallmark, and owns
and operates a full-power commercial television station in Columbus, Ohio.

—By Irene Lew