MTV Networks International and Twofour54 launch comedy content hub in Middle East

Notes and media contacts

Notes:
• In addition to Comedy Central Studios Arabia, by the end of 2009 Twofour54 will have 60 regional and international partners developing quality media content from its Khalifa Park campus. This number will continue to grow significantly throughout 2010.
• In its first 12 months of operation, Twofour54 tadreeb will have put over 800 media professionals, from 27 companies, through more than 1.4 million man hours of training, spanning 55 courses. Around 30% of these students will have come from outside the UAE.
• Launched at the end of September 2009, Twofour54 intaj has already recruited 70 specialist staff for its five state-of the-art HD studios and 22 post production suites. It has bookings for more than 200 production days, which will result in more than 400 hours of TV programming being produced and more than 100 hours of live feed booked through its satellite teleport system.

About Twofour54:
Twofour54 is an Abu Dhabi government initiative and an integral part of its 2030 plan, which seeks to diversify the Emirate's economy and establish the Emirate as the cultural capital of the Middle East.

Twofour54's vision is to establish a sustainable Arabic media and entertainment content creation industry in Abu Dhabi; a regional centre of excellence which is internationally renowned. The aim is to stimulate creative and professional partnerships in the television, radio, film, publishing, online, mobile, music, gaming and animation industries.

The company provides a collaborative and supportive ecosystem that will allow the establishment of a world-class media industry for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The focus is on developing Arabic media and entertainment content by Arabs and for the Arab audience.

Twofour54 delivers its advanced cohesive infrastructure through three key pillars: Twofour54 tadreeb (the training academy), Twofour54 ibtikar (innovation and support) and Twofour54 intaj (state-of-the-art production facilities) supported by business enabler Twofour54 tawasol (one-stop-shop).

Twofour54 has already attracted several of the region and world's largest and most influential content creation companies, including CNN, BBC, Thomson Foundation, Rotana Studios, Financial Times, Abu Dhabi Media Company, imagenation, C Sky Pictures, Thomson Reuters Foundation, Flash, PyraMedia, Getmo Arabia, Experience Media Studios and Baynounah Media Company.

Each of these partners has recognised the vast opportunity that the Arab world represents for growth and has committed significant investment and resources to business initiatives that will be led out of Twofour54.

The name Twofour54 is taken from Abu Dhabi's geographical coordinates, which are latitude 24 north, longitude 54 east. This name was chosen to symbolise Abu Dhabi's strategic position within the Middle East, which makes it the ideal location for the centre of excellence for content creation in the Arab region.

About MTV Networks International's (MTVNI) Emerging Markets Group:
MTVNI's Emerging Markets Group is one of the fastest growing regions in the company's portfolio of multi-platform businesses. The Emerging Markets Group manages 30 television channels, 32 websites, one video portal and four mobile TV channels encompassing the MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, VIVA and Comedy Central and COLORS brands in Central & Eastern Europe, Russia, Africa, the Middle East and India. Additionally, the Emerging Markets portfolio includes MTVNHD, MTVNI's first international high definition channel dedicated to music and kids which is operated by the Emerging Markets Group of behalf of MTVNI. MTVNI is owned by Viacom Inc (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B).



For further information, please contact:
Nashwa Zakaria
Twofour54
Tel: +971 2 4012454


Léann Lavery
MTV Networks International
Emerging Markets
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7478 5759

Mariam Emneina
Account Executive
Hill & Knowlton, Abu Dhabi
Tel :+971 2 401 2558