Hotline Communications and Studionext Form Alliance to Create Digital Entertainment Community; Users to be provided with ability to download original film, music and game content

Business Wire, Nov 7, 2000

Business & High Tech Editors

TORONTO and NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--November 7, 2000

Hotline Communications (www.BigRedH.com), a pioneer of peer-to-peer communications and community-building software, and Studionext (www.studionext.com), a digital media solutions provider for the entertainment and advertising industries, announced today an alliance that will allow Studionext to offer a new distribution platform for their existing and future productions.

Studionext will use Hotline's flagship technology, Hotline Connect, to promote the streaming and downloading of their serialized shows, short films, animation, music and interactive games.

In addition, Hotline's community technology will enable Studionext to stream live events, store their archived content and gather its user's digital content submissions. Studionext will also encourage its community to upload digital content to its server. The Studionext community server will be listed with both Hotline's New Media Channel as well as Hotline's Featured Server Channel.

"We are very please to showcase Studionext's high quality content on our New Media Channel," said Jack Kay, CEO of Hotline Communications. "Studionext is a perfect example of a premier digital media solutions provider that is embracing the advantages of interactivity and community building online."

Hotline Connect acts as a complete online digital community, empowering users to chat publicly and privately, share all types of file formats, post news and participate in newsgroups. Using QuickTime technology, Hotline also offers users the ability to stream multiple files, which is an excellent feature for those users who enjoy multimedia and broadband. Hotline is cross platform, meaning the software is accessible to both Mac users and PC users. The Hotline software allows our users to create secure communities, either public or private, in their own online space, without having to understand HTML, JAVA or other web based languages or protocols.

On the heels of appointing pioneering independent film producer Ira Deutchman to the post of CEO, Studionext is at the forefront of digital production and solutions. Subsequently, the alliance with Hotline is the next logical step for Studionext's distribution strategy. Says Spencer Huang, co-founder and SVP of Business Development of Studionext Corporation, "Our alliance with Hotline serves to benefit Studionext tremendously - by combining our digital production expertise and the speed of Internet-enabled technologies that Hotline offers, we will be provided with the opportunity to offer our clients a new distribution platform."

About Hotline Communications:

Founded in 1997, Hotline Communications is a privately held company in Toronto, Canada. The Company develops industry-leading, high-speed Internet communications and content distribution software that has attracted more than 3 million users worldwide and an additional 250,000 downloads per month. Recently, Hotline ranked 40th spot on Go2Net's 100 Hot Web sites, a comprehensive listing of the Web's most popular sites. Additional information is available on the company's Web site http://www.BigRedH.com.

About Studionext

Studionext is a digital-media solutions provider that enables traditional producer's and advertising companies expedient and cost effective ways to move into the digital medium. By offering unparalleled experience and expertise in film, television and the Internet, Studionext provides "end to end" digital solutions to clients who want to take advantage of new technologies while still maintaining the existing strengths of traditional filmmaking.

Studionext Corporation, headquartered in the heart of Silicon Alley, is guided by former executives and employees from Fine Line Features, Cinecom Entertainment Group,AOL, NBC, Showtime, Paramount, Sapient, PeopleSoft, and other successful media and technology companies. Additional information can is available on the company's Website: http://www.studionext.com.