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"SOUTH PARK" CREATORS TREY PARKER AND MATT STONE AND COMEDY CENTRAL� LAUNCH THE ALL-NEW SOUTHPARKSTUDIOS.COM
NEW SITE FEATURES FULL EPISODES AND CLIPS
FROM THE ENTIRE 12 SEASONS OF
THE EMMY� AND PEABODY� AWARD-WINNING ANIMATED SERIES
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Beta Version Reaches Over Three Million Streams
Of Full-Episodes And Clips In Less Than One Week
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NEW YORK, March 25, 2008 -- South Park Digital Studios LLC, the joint venture between "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and COMEDY CENTRAL, a division of MTVN Entertainment Group, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), announced today the launch of the new southparkstudios.com, which will feature free, streaming, full-length episodes and clips from the entire 12 seasons of the Emmy� and Peabody� Award-winning animated series. The site which rolled out a beta version last Wednesday has already received over three million page views, over two million video plays, and more than a million streams of full episodes.
"The 'South Park' phenomenon began as a viral video clip. Now it continues its digital and creative leadership with the launch of an extensive site devoted entirely to 'South Park,'" said Doug Herzog, president, MTV Networks' Entertainment Group. "Southparkstudios.com is a true representation of Matt and Trey's vision and is the ultimate online destination for 'South Park' fans � allowing them full access to every 'South Park' episode ever created."
When asked about the launch of the new site, Stone and Parker said, "We got really sick of having to download our own show illegally all the time so we gave ourselves a legal alternative."
Anne Garefino, General Manager of South Park Digital Studios, had this to say about the future of southparkstudios.com, "One goal in moving forward is to make every episode of 'South Park' available world-wide. Currently, full episodes are not available in the UK, Australia and a few other foreign territories but we're not far off from making that happen. We have some contractual issues to sift through but we're getting there."
Southparkstudios.com will offer fans an all new "South Park" digital experience. The new site, which was designed by a creative team from "South Park" in conjunction with Schematic, a WWP Digital Company, invites fans to watch full episodes and clips of every "South Park" episode. Of all 169 episodes in the "South Park" Library, 168 are available today. Due to contractual obligations, all new episodes will be available as soon as possible after they premiere on COMEDY CENTRAL and remain available for seven days. These episodes will return to the site permanently 30 days after they premiere. Southparkstudios.com also features extensive video and behind-the-scenes information from all 12 seasons allowing users to see all their favorite "South Park" moments, comment on them and share them with friends.
In addition to the wealth of video content, southparkstudios.com worked with 65 Media to create the South Park Avatar Generator. Users can make themselves into a "South Park" character (Canadians included) with the Official Avatar Generator. They can pick from millions of combinations to create their perfect self portrait in the "South Park" world. To date 35,000 Avatars have been created.
"The interesting part of designing for 'South Park' is to remember that while it is a cartoon, it is not a show, or a site, for kids," said Andrew Solmssen, General Manager and EVP, Schematic. "'South Park' wanted a site that was as clean and well designed as anything on the Web, so that it would showcase and put the proper emphasis on the show content."
Toyota and Virgin are the launch sponsors for the new southparkstudios.com.
Launched in 1997, "South Park," now in its 12th season, remains the highest-rated series on COMEDY CENTRAL. "South Park" repeats Wednesdays at 12:00 a.m., Thursdays at 10:00 p.m. and 12:00 a.m. and Sundays at 10:00 p.m., 11:30 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. (all times ET/PT).
Trey Parker and Matt Stone are co-creators and executive producers of the Emmy� and Peabody� Award-winning "South Park," with Anne Garefino also serving as executive producer.
Schematic, a WPP Digital company, deploys and develops solutions for the Web, mobile devices, television, digital environments and emerging platforms. Schematic offers complete strategic, creative, marketing and technology services to Fortune 1000 companies, including Disney, Target, Nokia, Coca-Cola, Comcast, Cond� Nast and Turner. For more information, please visit http://www.schematic.com
COMEDY CENTRAL, the only all-comedy network, currently is seen in more than 91 million homes nationwide. COMEDY CENTRAL is owned by, and is a registered trademark of, Comedy Partners, a wholly-owned division of VIACOM Inc.'s (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) MTV Networks. COMEDY CENTRAL's Internet address is www.comedycentral.com. For up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs visit Press Central, COMEDY CENTRAL's press web site at www.comedycentral.com/press.
MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. MTV Networks, with more than 150 channels worldwide, owns and operates the following television programming services - MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION, MTV2, VH1, mtvU, NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN/THE N, VH1 CLASSIC, MTVN INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV NETWORKS, a package of 13 digital services, all of these networks trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks connects with its audiences through its robust consumer products businesses and its more than 300 interactive properties worldwide, including online, broadband, wireless and interactive television services and also has licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication deals whereby all of its programming services can be seen worldwide.
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