K-tel Online Partners with RioPort.com to Offer Consumers Digital Downloads of Halloween Entertainment Content

Business Wire, Oct 20, 1999

CALABASAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 20, 1999--

Tapping into its vast library of proprietary music and spoken audio content, K-tel International Inc. (Nasdaq:KTEL) has partnered with a leader in the audio digital-download arena, RioPort.com, a subsidiary of S3 Inc. (Nasdaq:SIII).

Between Oct. 21 and Nov. 1, K-tel Online will make available a selection of its Halloween-themed content to RioPort.com (http://www.rioport.com) visitors. RioPort.com is a heavily trafficked sight that appeals to music lovers who want to take advantage of MP3 digital-download technology to enhance their music experience.

RioPort.com visitors will not only enjoy K-tel Halloween-themed content, they will also have the option to click a "Buy This CD Now" button from RioPort.com to Ktel.com to purchase the Halloween CD and browse through a complete selection of Ktel.com's proprietary content and custom-compilation CDs.

"This is a great opportunity for new consumers to discover Ktel.com's vast library of music and content. We are excited to give these Halloween audio treats to consumers who may choose to visit Ktel.com to purchase from our general and specialty music selections, which include Christmas and Valentine themes," commented Randy Malinoff, general manager of K-tel Online.

"This Internet-based Halloween promotion is also expected to stimulate our Halloween sales through K-tel's traditional retail distribution channels."

Music and Halloween lovers alike can visit RioPort.com to listen to the following content provided by K-tel:

-- From the album titled "Tales From Beyond: Halloween's Greatest

Stories":

-- "The Pit and The Pendulum," Edgar Allen Poe

-- "Premature Burial," Edgar Allen Poe

-- "Storms In The Night," Edgar Allen Poe

-- From the album titled "Vampire Songs":

-- "Tears of Blood"

-- From the album titled "Chubby Checker - Doin' The Zombie":

-- "Doin' The Zombie," Chubby Checker

-- From the album titled "Cool Ghoul's Halloween Party":

-- "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (story)

-- From the album titled "Ghostly Songs and Sounds":

-- "Witches' Brew"

-- From the album titled "Halloween Hysteria":

-- "The Dark Net" (Halloween Story)

-- "Monster Bash" (Halloween Song)

-- From the album titled "Horror Movie Madness":

-- "Theme From Dracula," excerpt from "Swan Lake"

-- "Amityville Horror"

-- From the album titled "Music of the Vampires":

-- "Requiem For A Vampire"

K-tel

K-tel International is a vertically integrated developer, marketer and distributor of entertainment and consumer products worldwide. The company markets its product lines through the Internet, and to retailers, wholesalers, distributors or licensees throughout the world. K-tel has two Internet Web sites, www.ktel.com in the United States, and www.ktel.de in Germany.

Ktel.com features 250,000 music titles, custom CDs and 35,000 home-video titles, consumer products and an auction site. The company -- along with online music retailers such as CDNow (Nasdaq:CDNW) and Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN), and Internet auction site eBay (Nasdaq:EBAY) -- is a leader in Internet consumer-products retailing.

K-tel has active operations in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany.

RioPort Inc.

RioPort, a subsidiary of S3, is redefining digital audio by delivering an integrated platform for acquiring, managing and experiencing music and spoken audio programming from the Internet.

RioPort delivers an extensive selection of digital music and spoken audio programming through its RioPort.com digital audio gateway site, full content management with its RioPort Audio Manager software and cutting-edge designs for incorporation into third-party RioPort- compatible hardware solutions such as the Rio 500.

Company headquarters are in San Jose, Calif., where its business development, engineering and marketing teams are located. RioPort's artist relations, content aggregation and online creative teams are based in Los Angeles, its software design team is in Loveland, Colo., and its portable player design team is based in Korea.

RioPort's Web site is at www.rioport.com.

S3 Inc.

Building on the technology, distribution and brand strengths of its Communications, Multimedia, Professional Graphics and RioPort divisions, S3 is committed to delivering targeted products for the personal-computer, communications and consumer/Internet-appliance markets.

The statements in this news release may contain forward-looking statements relating to future results of the company (including certain projections and business trends) that are "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results and performance may differ materially from expressed forward-looking statements because of certain risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, changes in political and economic conditions; demand for and market acceptance of new and existing products; the impact from competition for Internet content, merchandise and recorded music; dependence on strategic alliance partners, suppliers and distributors; market acceptance of the Internet for commerce and as a medium for advertising; technological changes and difficulties; availability of financing; and other risks detailed in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements.