Lyrick Studios and SightSound Technologies Distribute Barney On the Internet; Five Titles Available for Download From www.sightsound.com Beginning Today

Business Wire, Dec 15, 2000

Business & Entertainment Editors

NEW YORK--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Dec. 15, 2000

SightSound Technologies and Lyrick(TM) Studios announced today that they have reached an agreement for the distribution of five Barney(TM) brand video titles, which will be available for download beginning today.

The programs sold through www.sightsound.com include Barney's ABCs & 123s, Barney's Night Before Christmas, Barney's Super Singing Circus, Barney - What A World We Share and Barney - Walk Around the Block. Each episode is approximately 50 minutes in length and will be available to rent for a two-day period for $2.50, or for a purchase price of $10.00.

"The addition of high-profile children's programming such as the Barney brand being distributed digitally on the Internet is an another example of how SightSound Technologies' system delivers an extensive selection of entertainment to consumers," commented Scott Sander, CEO and President of SightSound Technologies.

SightSound Technologies will encode and encrypt the selected programs, provide territorial rights management and digital distribution and process eCommerce transactions for Lyrick Studios. All titles will be viewable with Windows Media Player.

"This agreement underscores our commitment to keep the Barney brand on the leading edge technologically," said Tim Clott, CEO of Lyrick Studios. "Previous examples of that tradition include this year's eSpecially My Barney from Hasbro, our early commitment to fully utilize the flexibility of DVD technology, and, going back a few years, to the Microsoft Barney Actimates," he added. Clott also revealed that the website www.barney.com is being redesigned, with a premiere date set for February 1, 2001.

The deal was negotiated on behalf of Lyrick Studios by CEO Tim Clott and Senior VP of Legal and Business Affairs Joyce Slocum; and for SightSound Technologies by Executive Vice President of Programming Jim Miller, and Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs Matt Smith.

Lyrick Studios, Inc., one of the largest independent family entertainment companies in the world, got its start with the production of home videos featuring Barney the dinosaur in 1988. Within a few years, Barney was an international broadcast and product phenomenon, and the WISHBONE(TM) show -- which went on to win multiple Emmys(R) and a George Foster Peabody Award -- was created. In addition to products inspired by Barney and Wishbone, today Lyrick also holds distribution rights for products from such leading children's branded properties as The Wiggles(TM), VeggieTales(TM), Humongous Entertainment(TM), and Little Suzy's Zoo(TM).

SightSound Technologies is a video and audio download and file-share electronic commerce company supporting the motion picture and music industries as they adopt digital distribution. SightSound Technologies provides its services to the motion picture industry through relationships with companies like Miramax Films, which will release twelve movies for download on Miramax websites; Comedy Central, which is distributing collectible episodes of "South Park;" and Metafilmics, the producers of Quantum Project, the first movie created exclusively for worldwide Internet distribution through SightSound Technologies. SightSound Technologies is also distributing movies for Franchise Pictures, Unapix Entertainment and more than 40 other independent producers and special interest companies. SightSound Technologies continues to make Internet history. First in 1995 by selling the first music online; then in 1999, by renting the first full-length movie online and in summer of 2000, by releasing the first Internet feature film.