Atom.com Signs First Look Deal With Content Creator Sandeep Parikh

* Reuters is not responsible for the content in this press release.

Thu Sep 25, 2008 4:10pm EDT

NEW YORK, Sept. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Viacom (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) MTVN
Entertainment Group's Atom.com, a digital comedy network and COMEDY CENTRAL's
exclusive partner and anchor brand for original digital comedy content,
announced today that it has signed writer-director Sandeep Parikh to an
exclusive first look production commitment. The deal follows the success of
Parikh's "Legend of Neil" series (www.legendofneil.atom.com), which has
generated 700,000 plays since debuting on Atom.com in August and reached over
400,000 more viewers when it made its television debut on "Atom TV" on COMEDY
CENTRAL on September 15.

The production deal gives Atom the first option on new digital content ideas
from Parikh and it has committed in advance to developing two of them to pilot
stage.  In addition, Atom and Parikh are in discussions on future seasons of
"Legend of Neil," building on the adventures of a guy who gets sucked into
"The Legend of Zelda" after a night of heavy drinking and game playing and
must fight his way out or risk perishing in the magical world.  The series was
a hit among gamers, who also know Parikh from his work as an actor in Felicia
Day's "The Guild," a popular web series set in the world of massively
multiplayer online games.

"Working with Megan and the Atom.com team has been an absolute blast," said
Parikh. "I couldn't be more excited about the success of 'The Legend of Neil'
and the new deal we've struck." 

"Sandeep's funny and inventive first season of 'Legend of Neil' has resonated
with the Atom audience online, on Atom TV and on all of our platforms," said
Atom's VP of Development and Acquisitions, Megan O'Neill.  "He really
understands the Web and we are thrilled to be creating more content with him."

The Atom.com digital comedy network extends far beyond the Web site, reaching
almost every screen that plays video. Elsewhere on the Internet, Atom channels
are featured on iTunes (which is currently selling the complete first season
of "Legend of Neil"), AOL, AT&T, Bebo, Dailymotion, Veoh, xBox Live, and
Parikh's own Effinfunny.com site. On television, the weekly "Atom TV" series
(TV-MA) features original Atom comedy videos and top user videos on COMEDY
CENTRAL every Monday night at 2:00 a.m.  On mobile phones, Atom has prominent
channels on Verizon Wireless' V CAST as well as AT&T's CV and AllTel. 

About Atom.com
Atom.com, a division of Viacom Inc.'s (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) MTV Networks, is a
digital comedy network for young men that reaches millions of consumers each
month on the Atom.com Web site and millions more through multiplatform
distribution on television, mobile phones, and the Internet.  Drawing on a
strategic partnership with COMEDY CENTRAL and its own 10-year history of
online video innovation and leadership (formerly as AtomFilms), Atom.com
delivers Web comedy like nobody else. 

SOURCE  MTVN Entertainment Group

Aileen Budow of MTVN Entertainment Group, +1-212-767-3952,
aileen.budow@mtvn.com
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