SHOWTIME JOINS FORCES WITH STRIKEFORCE

SHOWTIME JOINS FORCES  WITH STRIKEFORCE
FOR ALL-NEW LIVE MMA  SERIES

Series Debut  Scheduled for Saturday, April 11, 2009 on SHOWTIME

NEW  YORK  (February 5, 2009)—Showtime Networks  Inc. and World championship
mixed martial  arts (MMA) event producer  Strikeforce have joined forces to
create an all-new series of MMA  events that will air live on SHOWTIME® as part
of the SHOWTIME Sports franchise.  The  news was jointly announced today by
Ken Hershman, Senior  Vice President and General Manager, Sports and Event
Programming, Showtime  Networks, and Strikeforce Founder and CEO Scott Coker.
The multi-year  agreement calls for SHOWTIME to produce and televise up to 16
live events per  year including Strikeforce world championship events as well
as a series  dedicated to showcasing up-and-coming fighters in the sport. The
initial  championship event is schedule for Saturday, April 11, 2009 at the
HP Pavilion  in San Jose, Calif.  The fight card will be announced at a later
date. 
“We are very excited  to have the opportunity to deliver live Strikeforce
events on the SHOWTIME  premium television platform,” said Coker.   
“SHOWTIME is a  forward-thinking innovator with a reputation for producing
outstanding original  programming in sports and entertainment.  They have been a
phenomenal partner in the past and we are looking  forward to growing our
relationship with them and bringing the Strikeforce brand  of MMA to millions of
SHOWTIME subscribers.” 
“Strikeforce has a  history of presenting high-quality, compelling mixed
martial arts events and we  are thrilled to be able to bring their world-class
events to our subscribers,”  said Hershman. 
Hershman was  responsible for pioneering the network’s entry into MMA in
2007, when SHOWTIME  became the first premium network to televise the explosive
sport.   
He continued, “This  relationship with Strikeforce will allow SHOWTIME to
continue to deliver some of  the best MMA match-ups in the rapidly growing sport
as well as to expose the  future champions of MMA to our audience.” 
The agreement  reunites SHOWTIME and Strikeforce following their successful “
Shamrock vs.  Baroni” event, presented by SHOWTIME PPV® in 2007. In the main
event,  former UFC middleweight champion and MMA legend, Frank Shamrock,
submitted  knockout artist, Phil “The New York Badass” Baroni, in the second round
of  action whereby Shamrock became the first-ever Strikeforce World
Middleweight  Champion.

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SHOWTIME-STRIKEFORCE  ANNOUNCEMENT RELEASE
The historic event  was followed up with a live SHOWTIME telecast of one of
the sport’s most  anticipated showdowns of all-time—Shamrock versus undefeated
world kickboxing  champion Cung Le—on March 29, 2008.  In a battle that has
since been proclaimed “Fight Of The Year” by  industry experts and critics, Le
seized the Strikeforce middleweight crown by  pouring on a relentless
offensive and fending off Shamrock’s counter attacks  before breaking the defending
champion’s arm with a hard roundhouse kick and  forcing Shamrock to retire from
the bout between rounds three and  four.
A martial arts  promoter of over 23 years, Coker has gained widespread
acclaim amongst industry  colleagues and the media, including Rolling Stone
magazine, Yahoo! Sports, and  The San Jose Mercury News, for positioning his
14-year-old Strikeforce  organization as a major player in the world’s fastest growing
sport since its  inaugural MMA event that hosted a capacity crowd of 18,265 at
San Jose’s HP  Pavilion on March 10, 2006.  The  live gate figure also broke
the then-all-time record for attendance at an MMA  event held in North 
America.
About  Strikeforce
Strikeforce  is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which,
on Friday, March  10, 2006, made history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie”
event, the first  sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California state
history.  The star-studded extravaganza, which  pitted legendary champion Frank
Shamrock against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt  Cesar Gracie at San  Jose’s HP
Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record  crowd of 18,265.  Since 1995, 
Strikeforce has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for ESPN
 and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing 
promotion, the company unveiled its mixed martial arts series with “Shamrock
vs.  Gracie.”  Since then, it has  co-produced the first SHOWTIME PPV mixed
martial arts event in history with its  world championship “Shamrock vs. Baroni”
card on June 22nd of this  year followed by the first-ever mixed martial arts
event at the world-famous  Playboy  Mansion on September  29th.   
About Showtime  Networks Inc.
Showtime Networks  Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation,
owns and operates the  premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE
CHANNEL® and FLIX®, as well as  the multiplex channels SHOWTIME 2™, SHOWTIME®
SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®,  SHOWTIME BEYOND®, SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®,
SHOWTIME FAMILY ZONE® and THE  MOVIE CHANNEL® XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD®,
THE MOVIE CHANNEL® HD,  SHOWTIME ON DEMAND® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL® ON DEMAND.
SNI also manages  Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture between SNI and the
Smithsonian  Institution. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby
Digital 5.1. SNI  markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for
exhibition to  subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME  PPV®.