Entertainment Weekly and AMPAS Partner for World's Biggest Oscar(R) Pool, Presented by Netflix

Entertainment Weekly and AMPAS Partner for World's Biggest Oscar(R) Pool, Presented by Netflix

Movie Lovers Can Enter Online and Pick Up Free Oscar Guide at Best Buy

NEW YORK, Feb. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Entertainment Weekly magazine and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) have partnered to create the world's biggest Oscar pool at www.oscar.com. The pool, to be presented by Netflix, the online movie rental service, launched on February 1, 2006, the day after the Academy's nominations for outstanding film achievements of 2005 are announced.

Film enthusiasts and pop culture lovers everywhere can register to participate in Entertainment Weekly's World's Biggest Oscar Pool at www.oscar.com. Now that the nominations have been announced, fans can immediately begin playing by completing an online ballot with their predictions in 24 award categories. Players can compete as individuals or in teams and can log in and change their predictions as many times as they like prior to the start of the broadcast of the Academy Awards(R) at 5:00 p.m. PST on Sunday, March 5 on ABC Television.

The entrant with the most correct predictions will be awarded a grand prize consisting of an all expense paid weekend in Hollywood with seats on the red carpet of the Oscars(R) 2007, a lifetime membership to Netflix, and an Entertainment Weekly subscription. Additional prizes will be awarded to runners up as well.

In conjunction with the pool, Entertainment Weekly will publish a 24-page Ultimate Guide to the Oscars that will be distributed free at Best Buy stores nationwide. The mini-magazine, which will include the full facsimile ballot, similar to the one found on www.oscar.com, as well as items about each of the nominees in several of the award categories, will serve as the ultimate cheat-sheet for pool participants.

"Entertainment Weekly's extensive Oscar coverage has long been coveted by both readers and advertisers alike. We are especially pleased to partner with the magazine for the World's Biggest Oscar Pool," said Beth Harris, the Academy's Director of Awards Marketing.

"We are thrilled to be partnering with Entertainment Weekly and Netflix to continue to make Oscar.com the premier site for exclusive Oscar coverage and Academy Awards-themed promotions," said Harry Lin, Vice President, ABC.com which operates Oscar.com. "As fans at Oscar.com eagerly anticipate Oscar Night(R), the 'World's Biggest Oscar Pool' promotion will allow users to predict and participate in the excitement and buzz that is the Academy Awards."

"For over 77 years, the Academy Award(R) has symbolized the achievement of excellence in filmmaking. Now an annual benchmark of pop culture, the Oscars have moved beyond a television event to a worldwide cultural phenomenon that our editors follow all year long," said Peggy Mansfield, Entertainment Weekly's Associate Publisher of Marketing. "We are delighted to join forces with the Academy to get even more film fans involved in the awards in 2006."

"We are very pleased to partner with Entertainment Weekly and the Academy in the celebration of movies through the 'World's Biggest Oscar Pool' this Oscar season," said Leslie Kilgore, Chief Marketing Officer for Netflix. "Netflix is about movie enjoyment made easy and that includes an extensive library of Oscar nominated and winning films delivered to your door."

The Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2005 will be presented on Sunday, March 5, 2006, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland(R), and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PST/8 p.m. EST.

Entertainment Weekly, a winner of four National Magazine Awards (two for General Excellence, one for Design and one for Special Interest) is America's leading consumer magazine of entertainment and popular culture. The magazine is a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Inc., and has a guaranteed circulation rate base of 1.725 million reaching an audience of 11 million readers.

Netflix is the world's largest online movie rental service, providing more than 4 million subscribers access to over 55,000 DVD titles for everyone in the family, from Award winning dramas to animated shorts. Netflix is "the" movie source for Oscar winning movies.

Oscar.com is a co-production of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and is the official online home to the Academy Awards.

Source: Netflix, Inc.

CONTACT: Fenot Tekle of Netflix, +1-408-540-3787; or Steve Wilson of BWR
Public Relations, +1-310-248-6163, for Netflix

Web site: http://www.netflix.com/
http://www.oscar.com/
http://abc.com/

-------
Profile: intent