Atom.com Announces 'World Famous Cash-Money Internet Comedy Tournament'

Atom.com Announces 'World Famous Cash-Money Internet Comedy Tournament'

Weekly Competition Offers Cash Prizes And Opportunities For Online, Mobile And On-Air Distribution On COMEDY CENTRAL And MTV2 Tournament Will Officially Launch April 19, 2010 At Tournament.Atom.com L.A. Comedy Shorts Film Festival Participants Invited To Enter Submissions Today

LOS ANGELES, April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Atom.com announced today its "World Famous Cash-Money Internet Comedy Tournament," a weekly, ongoing competition launching April 19 in which funny video uploads earn cash prizes and opportunities for multiplatform distribution, including airings on Atom's late-night television series, "Atom TV" on COMEDY CENTRAL and "The Atom Show" on MTV2. Uploads can be submitted and viewed at tournament.atom.com.

To kick off the weekly Tournament, Atom is inviting filmmakers involved in this weekend's L.A. Comedy Shorts Film Festival to enter their submissions starting today. Judges from Atom and the festival plan to select one video to air in a new episode of "Atom TV," which makes its third season premiere on May 17. For the second year, Atom is a sponsor of the popular comedy festival, which runs today through Sunday, April 18.

"Week after week our community of comedy creators amazes us with the work they upload to Atom, and the Tournament is a bigger and better way to showcase their talents," said Scott Roesch, VP and GM of Atom.com. "For producers, it will be a unique opportunity to earn money and a shot at television and, for viewers, it will be a great place to discover hilarious and timely new comedy videos."

Once uploaded to Atom.com, eligible videos automatically compete in the next three Tournaments. There are two ways to win the Tournament:

-- Top Plays: This category puts the power into the hands of comedy
creators and the viewers, with winners determined based on sheer
popularity. Each week, the three videos with the highest play totals
win cash prizes: $500 for first place, $250 for second, and $100 for
third. Videos can earn prizes during each week of their eligibility
period.

-- Atom Picks: Atom editors and development executives will regularly
award cash prizes and distribution deals to videos that are
exceptionally funny, high in quality and meet Atom's current
distribution needs. Atom Picks may be distributed not only on the
Internet, but through Atom's mobile partners including Verizon and
AT&T, and on television via "Atom TV" on COMEDY CENTRAL and "The Atom
Show" on MTV2.

The third season of Atom.com's half-hour late-night series "Atom TV" premieres on COMEDY CENTRAL on Monday, May 17 at 2:30 a.m. Additionally, its Friday night late-night series "The Atom Show" on MTV2 makes its network debut on April 16 at 11:45 p.m.

For Tournament rules and additional details, visit tournament.atom.com.

About the L.A. Comedy Shorts Film Festival

The L.A. Comedy Shorts Film Festival, the largest comedy film festival in the USA, is dedicated to introducing the newest and hottest comedic talent to the audience and industry in a four-day, fun-packed weekend of screenings, parties, industry panels and a star-studded red carpet awards event. L.A. Comedy Shorts also hosts the L.A. Comedy Scripts Screenplay Competition, where screenwriters from around the world compete for cash prizes and industry introductions.

About Atom.com

Atom.com, a division of Viacom Inc.'s (NYSE:VIA)(NYSE:and)(NYSE:VIA.B) MTVN Entertainment Group, 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. Atom.com's programming lineup features daily new releases of original comedy including animation, live-action narrative, topical videos, sketch comedies and spoofs. The site also offers a library of thousands of comedy productions previously developed by, licensed by and uploaded to AtomFilms and COMEDY CENTRAL. 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: Atom.com

CONTACT: Eugene Oh, +1-310-907-2379, eugene.oh@mtvn.com, or Aileen
Budow, +1-212-767-3952, aileen.budow@mtvn.com

Web Site: http://www.atom.com/

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