Comedy Central Has Landed!

MEDIA RELEASE: 27 February 2009

Comedy Central Has Landed!

The laughter was rife at the launch of the highly anticipated new COMEDY CENTRAL NZ channel at Auckland’s Bluestone Room this afternoon with some of the biggest names in local comedy in attendance, showing their support of NZ’s first 24 hour comedy channel. On stage, local hero Rhys Darby presented 20minutes of his finest material leaving the audience in no doubt as to why his international career has rocketed.

COMEDY CENTRAL NZ is the first Comedy Central channel in the Southern Hemisphere and joins a portfolio of nine channels spanning the USA, UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary and Poland with an estimated global audience of over 140 million making it the world’s biggest comedy brand.

Managing Director for MTV Networks Australia and New Zealand, Dave Sibley commented, “I’m delighted that the launch of Comedy Central will mark the first dedicated comedy channel for Kiwi audiences. As an internationally renowned TV brand with a stable of high quality shows, we see Comedy Central becoming the ultimate destination for viewers looking for laughter.”

Comedy Central NZ is set to feature a wide array of original and acquired programming from animation to stand-up, sitcoms to classics. However local content is also high on the agenda. Channel Launch Manager Hilary Coe was keenly applauded by those present at the launch when she announced that COMEDY CENTRAL NZ would cement its commitment to the local comedy industry in the channel’s first year with interstitials, gig guides and tour presents with more local content planned for the future. ‘We will be going out of our way to support the live local industry wherever we can as Comedy Central firmly believes that live comedy is the nest in which great TV comedy is raised’.NZ General Manager Chris Keely says ‘I am pleased to be heading up a company that is bucking the trend. Comedy Central is our third channel making MTV Networks SKY TV’s biggest local channel partner. In addition to this, our network lives in Auckland, and this adds a layer of local knowledge to our great global brands’.

Programming highlights include a talent-heavy lineup of cutting edge international comedy. For the first time the critically acclaimed “news” satire The Colbert Report will be broadcast in New Zealand, alongside other hot properties from the United States including 30 Rock, The Sarah Silverman Program, The Best of Saturday Night Live and Entourage. The best of new British comedy arrives in the form of Katy Brand’s Big Ass Show. Kiwis will get a chance to revisit all comedy favorites such as Seinfeld, Frasier, The Young Ones, Harry Enfield & Chums and The Goodies and Sex and the City. The young-at-heart will also appreciate TOON ARMY which serves up some of the best in animation including the premiere of Aaron McGruder’s gritty and topical race-relations social satire The Boondocks alongside American Dad, Robot Chicken, and the long-running and irreverently topical South Park.

COMEDY CENTRAL NZ will air 24 hours a day, seven days a week on SKY Digital Channel 010, from April 1, 2009. This will be the third channel operated locally by MTV Networks Australia and NZ, joining sister MTV Network brands MTV and Nickelodeon, already available on the SKY Digital platform.

About MTV Networks - MTV Networks International includes the premier multimedia entertainment brands MTV: Music Television, VH1, Nickelodeon, TMF (The Music Factory), VIVA, Comedy Central and Game One seen in 442.9 million households in 170 countries and 28 languages via 121 locally programmed and operated TV channels and 95 Web sites. The company's diverse holdings also include interests in television syndication, digital media, publishing, home video, radio, recorded music, licensing & merchandising and two feature film divisions, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. MTV Networks is a unit of Viacom International Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA)

ENDS

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