Paris and New York, July 30, 2001 - Vivendi Universal [ParisBourse: EXFP; NYSE: V] said today that Universal Studios' addition of video-on-demandrights to its existing pay-per-view arrangement with iN DEMAND, as announced July 20, enhances the company's ability to generate new revenuesby expanding the availability of its rich film content to iN DEMAND's affiliates,including the potential 44 million homes which subscribe to the network's four largestcable company owner-affiliates (AT&T, Time Warner, Comcast and Cox). This agreement joins together the country's largest pay-per-view network with a major Hollywood studio. The non-exclusive agreement grants iN DEMAND the VOD rights for Universal Pictures'current releases, library films and certain other product.
"This is an extension of Vivendi Universal's strategy tostrengthen our distribution in the U.S.," said Jean-Marie Messier, chairman and chief executive officer of Vivendi Universal. "As the first major studio to grant VOD rights to iN DEMAND, Vivendi Universal is demonstrating its commitment to accelerating the development of on-demand entertainment by providing iN DEMAND's customers with a new alternative for viewing movies in their homes, at their convenience.
He added: "Universal Studios' extension of its relationshipwith iN DEMAND follows distribution agreements for Vivendi Universal's music content with such entities as Yahoo!, MSN and MP3.com. Overall, we are working on a number of fronts to augment the distribution of all of our content through alliances, agreements andpartnerships. Beyond thisnon-exclusive agreement with iN DEMAND, Vivendi Universal is working with other studios on distributing our content in an on-demand environment, particularly VOD."
Important Disclaimer
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" asthat term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Suchforward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results maydiffer materially from the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of risks anduncertainties, many of which are outside our control, including but not limited to: therisk that recently acquired operations will not be integrated successfully; that thesynergies expected to be created as a result of recent acquisitions will not materialize;that Vivendi Universal will be unable to further identify, develop and achieve success fornew products, services and technologies; that Vivendi Universal will face increasedcompetition and that the effect on pricing, spending, third-party relationships andrevenues of such competition will limit or reduce Vivendi Universal's revenue and/orincome; that Vivendi Universal will be unable to establish and maintain relationships withcommerce, advertising, marketing, technology, and content providers; and that VivendiUniversal will be unable to obtain or retain, upon acceptable terms, the licenses andpermits necessary to operate and expand its businesses; as well as the risks described inthe documents Vivendi Universal has filed with the U.S. Securities and ExchangeCommission. Investors and security holders are urged to read those documents at theCommission's web site at www.sec.gov. Those documents may also be obtained free of chargefrom Vivendi Universal.
