Starz InBlack Brings 11th Annual NAMIC Vision Awards to Premium Television

Starz InBlack Brings 11th Annual NAMIC Vision Awards to Premium Television

First Time Awards Ceremony to Be Telecast on Premium Network

Gala Ceremony Features Tribute to Ossie Davis and a Celebration of the Best in Multiethnic Programming

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., May 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Starz Entertainment Group (SEG) announced today that it will present the first national broadcast of the 11th Annual NAMIC Vision Awards. The unique awards ceremony, which celebrates the cable industry's best in multiethnic original programming, will be telecast at 6:30 p.m. ET/PT, Saturday, May 28th exclusively on Starz InBlack.

"We are thrilled to be the first to televise this important celebration of diversity in cable programming," said Brett Marottoli, director, program acquisitions, Starz Entertainment Group. "We join NAMIC in their commitment to diversity and are proud to share this prestigious industry event with our subscribers."

"We are proud of our decade long history of producing the Vision Awards," said Kyle Bowser, founder and executive producer, NAMIC Vision Awards. "Our partnership with Starz Entertainment Group provides a wonderful opportunity to communicate our message to millions of viewers who share our concerns about the absence of diversity on the air."

The 11th Annual NAMIC Vision Awards were presented on Friday, April 29th at The Beverly Hilton. Hosting the gala event were Lisa Ling ("Explorer"), Lisa Vidal ("The Division") and Chris Spencer ("Significant Others"). Participating in the show were a roster of stars from stage and screen, including Mario Van Peebles ("Baadasssss"), Michael Clarke Duncan ("Sin City"), Glynn Turman ("Sahara"), Kimberly Brooks ("Huff"), Georg Stanford Brown ("Mystery Woman: Snapshot"), Tim Reid ("On the One"), Judge Mablean Ephriam ("Divorce Court"), Richard T. Jones ("Judging Amy"), Benito Martinez ("The Shield"), Kristoff St. John ("The Young and the Restless") and AJ and Free ("106 and Park"). Further highlighting the evening were live performances from singer/songwriter Brenda Russell and Asian R&B Hip-Hop group Far East Movement.

In addition to recognizing the best in multicultural original content in nine programming categories, the 11th Annual NAMIC Vision Awards paid homage posthumously to legendary actor, director, writer, producer and activist Ossie Davis for his longstanding commitment to advancing the cause of diversity. Davis' widow, actor, writer, producer Ruby Dee was present to accept the North Star Award.

In accepting the award, Ms. Dee said, "Only yesterday it seems cable was a dream and it took the work of many visionaries to bring it to where it is today. If Ossie were here I think he would charge us with the task of keeping multicultural stories alive, serving the nature and needs of our times. He would urge us to keep cable and all media alive, relevant and telling it like it is."

SiTV co-founder and chairman Jeff Valdez was honored with the Quasar Award for his work in helping to illuminate and advance diversity in the communications industry. "Sesame Street" and its production company Sesame Workshop received the Legacy Award for their impact on the diversity landscape. For a complete list of winners visit www.namic.com.

Starz InBlack is the source for the biggest, coolest movies and urban entertainment. Starz InBlack has produced several original film projects, most recently, "UNSTOPPABLE: A Conversation with Melvin Van Peebles, Gordon Parks and Ossie Davis," "The Last of the Mississippi Jukes," and the Peabody Award winning "A Huey P. Newton Story" starring Roger Guenveur Smith and directed by Spike Lee, also nominated for two NAACP Image Awards. Other productions include the critically acclaimed "Funny Valentines" (in association with Studio USA Pictures and STARZ! Pictures), starring Alfre Woodard, Loretta Devine and CCH Pounder, and original documentaries "Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist," hosted by actor Morgan Freeman and the highly regarded "Classified X" by the godfather of contemporary African American cinema, Melvin Van Peebles.

About NAMIC, Inc.

Founded 25 years ago as a non-profit 501(c)(6) trade association and comprised of 2,000 industry professionals, NAMIC (National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications) has developed programs to help educate, empower and advocate for multi-ethnic diversity in the telecommunications industry through 17 nationwide chapters. Such initiatives are achieved through the Annual NAMIC Conference, a cornerstone of Cable Diversity Week, the L. Patrick Mellon Mentorship Program and the Executive Leadership and Development Program (ELDP) at the UCLA Anderson Graduate School of Business.

About Starz Entertainment Group

Starz Entertainment Group LLC (SEG) is the largest provider of premium movie services in the United States with approximately 174 million pay units. SEG offerings include the Starz Encore Movie Pack with 13 digital movie channels and more than 750 movies per month, Starz HDTV, Starz On Demand, and Starz Ticket, the first and only on-demand premium TV subscription service available on the broadband platform. Starz Entertainment Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation, www.starz.com.

Contacts: Chelsye J. Burrows Charmaine Chapman
Starz Entertainment Group BTB Communications
720.852.5838 310.285.9443
chelsye.burrows@starz.comchar@btbcommunications.com

Source: Starz Entertainment Group LLC

CONTACT: Chelsye J. Burrows of Starz Entertainment Group,
+1-720-852-5838, chelsye.burrows@starz.com; or Charmaine Chapman of BTB
Communications, +1-310-285-9443, char@btbcommunications.com, for NAMIC, Inc.

Web site: http://www.starz.com/
http://www.namic.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: Photos available upon request.

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