Business Wire: FOX.com Creates Teen Hangout On the Web With American High; Video Diary Submissions From Teens Across America to be Showcased On FOX.com

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FOX.com Creates Teen Hangout On the Web With American High; Video Diary Submissions From Teens Across America to be Showcased On FOX.com

Entertainment Editors

LOS ANGELES--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--July 18, 2000

FOX.com, a division of News Digital Media, today announced the launch of American High, a free-flowing online environment for teens across the country to connect with each other and share their personal real-life experiences.

A major component of the Web site includes "class participation" where teens across the country are encouraged to send in videotapes and create personal homepages that showcase their personal life experiences. A call for entries will be posted on the site to solicit submissions from the U.S. teen community.

This FOX.com Web hangout was designed to dovetail with "American High," a provocative new half-hour, non-fiction drama series about a group of real students dealing with real-life situations -- both at home and at school -- during the 1999-2000 school year. The American High Web site will debut on Monday, July 24, offering a sneak preview of the strong personalities and stories to follow on the FOX television series, with user-generated materials to be added as the show premieres on August 2.

Located at FOX.com, the American High site provides a platform for teens to address the growth, issues and struggles they encounter every day. Video clips, photos and autobiographies of the eclectic group of Chicago-area high school students serve as a catalyst to garner participation from American teens across the country.

"We are tapping into the universal high school experience and using the Web to create a place that provides teens with the opportunity to connect with each other in a virtual American High," said Jordan Kurzweil, senior vice president, Entertainment, FOX.com.

"Class participation" fosters creativity and builds greater community among users by allowing them to actively participate in the "American High" phenomenon. Through this feature, teen visitors will be encouraged to create and contribute original content to the site, mirroring video footage recorded by the "American High" students to provide additional insight into their lives.

The American High Web site will post select teen-submitted videotaped journals throughout the run of the series. Users are also invited to build and post their own personal American High home pages highlighting the shared experiences of high school kids across America.

The teens featured on the "American High" TV series will continue to be a part of the community through regular chats on the site. In addition, "The School Boards" message board and "Pass a Note" email postcards offer visitors an opportunity to share thoughts on the site's content with fellow American High "students."

The "American High Notebook" is filled with the "Video Diaries" created by the students seen on the FOX show. Each week, the site will showcase exclusive new footage of their personal lives -- in their homes, cars and at school -- as they face some of the toughest decisions and harshest realizations of their young lives. It will also house their homepages, including the original hand-written autobiographies of the teens. An episode guide is also included.

"About the Filmmakers" will contain information about R.J. Cutler, the Academy Award(R)-nominated filmmaker who created "American High," in addition to exclusive behind-the-scenes streaming commentary about the American High production process.

FOX.com is an award-winning entertainment site offering distinctive and daring programming. As the exclusive online home to FOX Broadcasting events, productions and series, FOX.com is creating branded community sites that provide unique access for both first time visitors and hardcore fans.

Visitors are immersed in the worlds of "The Simpsons," "The X-Files," "Ally McBeal" and other popular FOX shows. Community aspects such as homepages, bulletin boards, chats, email and ISPs complement behind-the-scenes insight, character profiles, interviews, polls and contests.

The site also provides a front row seat for live Hollywood happenings, such as red carpet arrivals to "The Oscars" and "The Billboard Music Awards." FOX.com is equally committed to developing new original content sites focusing on comedy and science fiction, drawing from the best new media talent in the industry.

News Digital Media, the electronic publishing division of News Corporation, is a leading digital content creator, producer and distributor for multiple platforms including the Web, broadband, wireless and enhanced TV. Operating FOX.com, FOXSPORTS.com, FOXNEWS.com and FOXMARKETWIRE.com, News Digital Media is building a community of destinations to satisfy the growing online population.

The division also directs investment activities and strategy for News Corporation as they relate to digital media, with investments in Juno, TheStreet.com, PlanetRx, sixdegrees, iSyndicate, Rivals.com and Yupi, and complete ownership of STATS Inc.