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EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE OF STANLEY CUP CONFERENCE FINALS EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE OF STANLEY CUP CONFERENCE FINALS BEGIN THURSDAY ON VERSUS WITH WESTERN CONFERENCE SHOWDOWN BETWEEN DETROIT AND DALLAS

Ratings and Viewership Continue to Rise Through First Two Playoff Rounds

Stamford CONN. (May 7, 2008)-VERSUS, the exclusive cable television home of the National Hockey League, will continue its wall-to-wall coverage of the 2008 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs when the Conference Finals commence on Thursday, May 8, at 7:30 p.m. ET. The Detroit Red Wings and the Dallas Stars will begin their battle for the right to represent the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup Final. The Conference Finals continue on Friday, May 9, at 7:30 p.m. ET when the Eastern Conference takes center stage as the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins face-off in Game 1 of their intrastate showdown. All Conference Finals telecasts on VERSUS are exclusive.

VERSUS will kick-off the Conference Finals with a special 30-minute “Hockey Central” on May 8 at 7 p.m. ET, prior to Game 1 of the Western Conference Final between Dallas and Detroit. Total viewership for “Hockey Central” during the first two rounds of this postseason has increased 65 percent compared to the first two playoff rounds last year. VERSUS’ Stanley Cup Playoffs coverage will culminate with exclusive coverage of the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final. All VERSUS-produced games are produced in hi-definition.

During the Conference Semifinals, in which VERSUS aired eight exclusive games and seven non-exclusive games, the network continued to see significant increases in ratings, total viewership and viewership across all key male demos, as compared to year-ago figures from the second postseason round. VERSUS’ exclusive telecast of Game 4 of the Rangers/Penguins Conference Semifinal series on May 1 garnered a 1.0 household rating and 1,184,589 total viewers, making it the most-watched NHL telecast in network history and the third most-watched telecast overall. Household ratings in the 2008 Conference Semifinals showed an increase of 50 percent, total viewership was up 51 percent and viewership among Men 18-34 (up 77%), Men 18-49 (up 79%) and Men 25-54 (up 84%) all saw dramatic gains. This growth follows a 50-percent increase in household ratings during the regular season and 33 percent in the Conference Quarterfinal round.

The complete schedule for the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs Conference Final round follows (subject to change):

HOCKEY CENTRAL:
The network’s studio show, “Hockey Central,” is hosted by Bill Patrick with Brian Engblom and Keith Jones and provides extensive insight and commentary of the games and what’s happening around the Stanley Cup Playoffs each night. VERSUS will, on occasion, bring players and coaches into the studio to serve as celebrity guest analysts. In the Quarterfinal round, Manny Legace, goaltender for the St. Louis Blues and Rick DiPietro, goaltender for the New York Islanders joined the VERSUS studio crew. Additions in the Conference Final round will be announced as information becomes available.

Among the regular segments of the studio show are the following:

VERSUS-on-Demand:
Each night VERSUS features a playoff match-up, the network delivers a condensed highlight version of the game that is distributed via the network’s VOD platform. These are available the morning after game play, so that hockey fans who may not have seen the previous night’s game won’t miss out on any of the playoffs action.

Throughout the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs, VERSUS.com continues to provide the most extensive information about the NHL, including editorial coverage from some of the most knowledgeable hockey sources. Just as the network is witnessing considerable increases in ratings and viewership during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Website is also experiencing explosive growth. Since the postseason began, VERSUS.com has seen record-breaking traffic and NHL video views have surpassed one million and counting.

The network also launched the playoffs specific microsite versus/stanleycup,which features a video library of the defining moments from last year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs as well as the best moments in Stanley Cup Playoffs history. The network’s website ramped up daily coverage to include game Podcasts and highlights from all of VERSUS’ games as well as daily insider video featuring VERSUS’ NHL talent on the network’s broadband channel “The Player.” Each night after the studio show, VERSUS’ talent film web-exclusive content that gives the inside scoop on what has happened to-date in the playoffs, as well as their predictions for the future games in the series. The website also features a fan zone area where viewers can submit their ultimate NHL moment and photos of a game they attended for a chance to win great playoff prizes.

VERSUS celebrates real competition in all its forms across all platforms (VERSUS.com, VERSUS on Demand and VERSUS HD). Now in more than 74 million homes, the network is the national cable home of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Stanley Cup Playoffs as well as best-in-class events such as The Tour de France, Davis Cup Tennis, the Professional Bull Riders (PBR), World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) and Professional Boxing. The network also offers collegiate sports featuring nationally-ranked teams from top conferences such as the Pac-10, Big 12 and Mountain West. VERSUS features the best field sports programming on television and is a destination for sports fans, athletes and sportsmen to find exclusive, competitive events that audiences can’t find elsewhere. VERSUS, a wholly owned company of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK), is distributed via cable systems and satellite operators throughout the United States.

Source: Versus New Release.