MSN and Control Room Team to Bring Music's Biggest Performances to Fans Worldwide

MSN and Control Room Team to Bring Music's Biggest Performances to Fans Worldwide

Exclusive multiyear agreement for live concerts launches with John Legend live from the Royal Albert Hall in London on Oct. 2.

LOS ANGELES and REDMOND, Wash., Sept. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Control Room (formerly Network LIVE), the No. 1 provider of live digital entertainment and the producers of Live 8, and MSN, a leader in delivering compelling entertainment to consumers around the world, today announced a multiyear, global live content distribution agreement. Under this new arrangement, MSN will be the exclusive online worldwide destination via live and on-demand streaming for Control Room's slate of live music programming, and visitors to MSN(R) Video will have ongoing access to live concerts from the most popular, top-selling musical artists as well as today's most talked-about breakthrough acts.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO )

With this agreement in place, MSN and Control Room will embark upon a deep, exclusive content collaboration, combining Control Room's expertise in creating and delivering live music events for cross-media distribution with the feature-rich video programming of MSN and its global reach and branded entertainment appeal to advertisers. Further, through this agreement, Microsoft Corp. may stream Control Room shows to other platforms, including Xbox Live(R), MSN Messenger, Microsoft(R) Windows Media(R) Player and Windows(R) XP Media Center Edition.

When the relationship officially begins on Oct. 2, the nearly 465 million worldwide monthly visitors to MSN will get to see an exclusive performance from multiple-award-winning singer, songwriter and pianist John Legend, live from the Royal Albert Hall in London live at 4 p.m. EDT/9 p.m. BST (music.msn.com/JohnLegend). In addition, another artist already scheduled to appear on MSN through the relationship with Control Room is John Mayer from Webster Hall in New York City.

In continuing to expand its entertainment offerings, MSN is creating rich new opportunities for advertisers to integrate into and around the content itself. Advertisers can take advantage of display, text and streaming video opportunities, engaging with the worldwide MSN audience.

"With the video content market surging as it has been in the last year since Live 8, we have proven that there is a robust market for a company like ours to change the way live entertainment is consumed, now and in the future," said Kevin Wall, CEO of Control Room. "With MSN, we have found a global partner that sees the value and profit in providing our rich and cutting-edge live entertainment content to its consumers worldwide."

"By working with Control Room to add original, exclusive content, we create an even deeper engagement with our global audience, thus unveiling significant new opportunities for advertisers," said Rob Bennett, general manager of Entertainment and Video Services for MSN. "With this collaboration, artists now have an extremely valuable, cohesive, global marketing and promotion avenue to reach and connect with fans worldwide, while in turn it creates another key access point for consumers to get high-quality content from the musicians they love."

The Control Room team will leverage its deep and broad experiences, relationships and skills accrued while creating and digitally distributing more than 59 shows in the past year to deliver high-quality live music programming to MSN. Control Room maintains the same seasoned management team, many of whom worked on the now historic Live 8, and also continues content distribution relationships with television, radio, theatrical and retail partners worldwide.

About Control Room

Control Room (formerly Network LIVE) is the No. 1 provider of live digital entertainment, offering fans unparalleled access to the artists they want -- when and how they want it -- via broadband, TV, radio, wireless, theatrical and retail. Control Room has produced and distributed more than 59 concerts with artists like Beyonce, Madonna, Green Day and Dave Matthews Band, as well as global events like Live 8 and the Rolling Stones from Copacabana Beach. Its best-in-class, multi-partner network provides unprecedented reach for live offerings through broadband, television, digital movie theatres and mobile phones throughout the U.S. and the world.

About MSN Video

MSN Video is one of the largest video-only streaming services on the Web, watched by more than 11 million unique users per month. In addition to streaming news, entertainment and sports video clips from more than 45 content partners including "The Today Show," FOX Sports, MSNBC, JibJab Media Inc. and Fox Entertainment Group, MSN Video presents a broad array of live events to online audiences worldwide. More than 50 top advertisers support MSN Video, which is available to consumers at no charge. MSN Video is available on the Web at http://msnvideo.com/ to consumers in the U.S. MSN Video is also live in Australia, Canada, Japan and the U.K., and in Spanish in the U.S.; the service also is in beta testing in France.

Overall, MSN attracts more than 465 million unique users worldwide per month. With localized versions available globally in 42 markets and 21 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering Web services to consumers and online advertising opportunities to businesses worldwide.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

NOTE: Microsoft, MSN, Xbox Live, Windows Media and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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Source: Microsoft Corp.

CONTACT: Elisa Wiefel of Control Room, +1-310-550-3831, or
ewiefel@networklive.com; or Matthew Grossman of Edelman, +1-323-202-1061, or
Matthew.grossman@edelman.com, for Control Room; or Brynn Vitale,
+1-212-907-6649, or bvitale@waggeneredstrom.com, or Rapid Response Team,
+1-503-443-7070, or rrt@waggeneredstrom.com, both of Waggener Edstrom
Worldwide, for Microsoft

Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass on Microsoft's corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft's Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.mspx .

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