ION TELEVISION TO LAUNCH U.S. PREMIERE OF THE DIPLOMAT, AN ORIGINAL MINISERIES, ON SATURDAY, JANUARY 24 AT 7:00 PM, ET

New Production from RHI Entertainment Stars Dougray Scott In Supercharged Spy-Thriller of International Intrigue and Rogue Nuclear Weapons

(West Palm Beach, Fla. and New York, N.Y. - December 9, 2008) - ION Television, the "Positively Entertaining" general entertainment network available to over 94 million homes, today announced the U.S. debut of The Diplomat,a four-hour original production making its television premiere on ION Television on Saturday, January 24 at 7:00 p.m. ET. Produced by RHI Entertainment, the leader in the production and distribution of groundbreaking movies, miniseries and series for television, the miniseries will be broadcast in its entirety in one evening.

Inspired by actual incidents, including the 1997 theft of five Soviet built nuclear "suitcase bombs," The Diplomat stars Dougray Scott (Desperate Housewives, Mission Impossible II, RHI's Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde) as Ian Porter, a disillusioned British diplomat haunted by personal tragedy, who is believed to be doing business with a Russian arms and drugs trafficker. When he refuses to cooperate with Scotland Yard, suspicions mount and Porter must try to complete his secret mission before warring intelligence agencies and incompetent police forces cause irreparable damage to worldwide security.

"Ian Porter is a character who has found himself on a downward spiral physically and mentally," says Dougray Scott. "He is trying in some way to make sense of his life which has become dark and without optimism. So he's become a very selfless human being without much regard for himself. It's really about him trying to atone for the sin of neglect of his son and ultimately how self sacrifice may alleviate his pain."

Set in present day Sydney, Tajikistan and London, The Diplomat is a Screentime Production for UKTV. It is produced and directed by Peter Andrikidis. The producer is Greg Haddrick, who also developed the concept. Power's Justin Bodle, Screentime's Des Monaghan and UKTV's Brendan Dahill are executive producers. RHI's Robert Halmi Jr. also serves as executive producer on the project.

About ION Television

ION Television (www.iontelevision.com) is a general entertainment network which reaches over 94 million U.S. television households via its nationwide broadcast television, cable and satellite distribution systems. Launched in 2006, ION Television features popular TV series and movies from the award-winning libraries of RHI Entertainment, CBS Television, NBC Universal, Sony Pictures Television, Twentieth Television and Warner Bros. Parent company, ION Media Networks, Inc., owns and operates the nation's largest broadcast television station group. Using its digital multicasting capability, ION Media Networks has launched the digital TV brands qubo, a channel for children focusing on literacy and values, and ION Life, a channel dedicated to active living and personal growth. It also has launched Open Mobile Ventures Corporation (OMVION), a business unit focused on the research and development of portable, mobile and out-of-home transmission technology using over-the-air digital television spectrum. For more information, visit www.ionmedia.com.

About RHI Entertainment RHI Entertainment (NASDAQ: RHIE) develops, produces and distributes new made-for-television movies, miniseries and other television programming worldwide, and is the leading provider of new long-form television content in the United States. Under the leadership of Robert Halmi, Sr. and Robert Halmi, Jr., RHI has produced and distributed thousands of hours of quality television programming, and RHI's productions have received more than 100 Emmy Awards. During 2007, RHI developed, produced and distributed 43 new television movies and miniseries to broadcast and cable networks around the world. In addition to the development, production and distribution of new content, RHI owns rights to approximately 1,000 titles, or over 3,500 broadcast hours of long-form television programming, which are licensed to broadcast and cable networks and new media outlets globally. For more consumer information visit www.rhitv.com.