NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ACQUIRES CABLE SYNDICATION RIGHTS OF NBCUNIVERSAL'S "RUNNING WILD WITH BEAR GRYLLS"

National Geographic to Air First Three Seasons of Hit Series Beginning Oct. 26

(WASHINGTON, D.C. - OCT. 16, 2017) National Geographic is literally Running Wild With Bear Grylls. The network announced today that it has acquired the exclusive U.S. cable syndication rights of NBC's popular hit series featuring Bear Grylls, famed adventurer and survivalist who takes celebrities into the most remote and wild locations in the U.S. and around the world for a 48-hour extreme survival journey of a lifetime. National Geographic will air the first three seasons of Running Wild With Bear Grylls starting Oct. 26. The network also has the first option to air additional seasons of the series produced by Bear Grylls Ventures and Electus, should they be greenlit by NBC.

"Running Wild With Bear Grylls is incredibly complementary to our pursuit of programming and talent that support the very best of what audiences expect from National Geographic," said Christian Drobnyk, executive vice president, programming strategy and acquisitions for National Geographic Channels. "No one makes adventure and survival more surprising, entertaining and informative than Bear Grylls, so it's the perfect marriage of expert talent with one of the world's most trusted brands."

"National Geographic is a perfect fit for Running Wild With Bear Grylls, and we are happy to expand the show's audience to include Nat Geo fans," stated Bruce Casino, executive vice president, NBCUniversal Television and New Media Distribution.

With Grylls as their survival guide, the celebrities endure the harsh wilderness in high-octane, action-based and empowering journeys spread over six remote locations, pushing both their minds and bodies to the limits to successfully complete their journeys.

Season One (Begins airing weekly Oct. 26 - episodes will air out of order)

The celebrities who will be partnered one-on-one with Grylls in their own stand-alone episodes include actor Zac Efron, actor-director Ben Stiller, actor Channing Tatum, NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, actor Tom Arnold and broadcast journalist Tamron Hall.

Season highlights range from skydiving into the Catskill Mountains to repelling down the cliffs of Utah and battling the notorious torrential winds and rain of Scotland.

Season Two

Joining the renowned survivalist for season two are Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet, Oscar nominee Kate Hudson, Super Bowl-winning QB Drew Brees, Emmy nominee and "Modern Family" star Jesse Tyler Ferguson, actor Ed Helms, actress Michelle Rodriguez and award-winning film and television actors James Marsden and Michael B. Jordan.

This season the series will take viewers from the jungles of Panama and the far reaches of the Italian Alps and to Colorado's Rocky Mountains and Utah's Red Rocks. The intrepid cast members will face their deepest fears and tackle everything from skydiving to rappelling as they journey through some of the world's most unforgiving wildernesses.

Season Three

Joining the renowned survivalist for season three is Screen Actors Guild Award-winning actress Courteney Cox; actress, dancer and Emmy award-winning choreographer Julianne Hough; stage and screen actress and singer Vanessa Hudgens; triple-platinum recording artist and actor Nick Jonas; NFL Super Bowl champion Marshawn Lynch; alpine skier and Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn; Shaquille O'Neal; and more.

Grylls will take viewers from the remote African savannah and mountain passes of the Sierra Nevada to the wilds of Ireland and rocky shores of Corsica.

Running Wild With Bear Grylls is produced by Bear Grylls Ventures and Electus. NBCUniversal Television and New Media Distribution is the distributor and managed the rights agreement.

About Bear Grylls

Bear Grylls has become known worldwide as one of the most-recognized faces of survival and outdoor adventure. His journey to this acclaim started on a small island off the UK coast, where his late father taught him to climb and sail. Trained from a young age in martial arts, Grylls went on to spend three years as a soldier in the British Special Forces, as part of 21st SAS Regiment. It was here that he perfected many of the survival skills that his fans all over the world enjoy, as he pits himself against the worst of Mother Nature. Despite a free-fall parachuting accident in Africa, where he broke his back in three places and endured many months in military rehabilitation, Grylls went on to become one of the youngest climbers ever to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

He then went on to star in seven seasons of the Discovery Channel's Emmy Award-nominated "Man vs. Wild" TV series, which became one of the most-watched shows on the planet, reaching an estimated 1.2 billion viewers. Since then he has gone on to host more extreme adventure TV shows across more global networks than anyone else in the world, including the BAFTA award-winning The Island with Bear Grylls, Bear Grylls' Survival School, Man vs. Wild, Running Wild for NBC and Absolute Wild for Chinese TV. He is a number 1 bestselling Author, an Honorary Colonel to the Royal Marine Commandos and the youngest-ever Chief Scout, and inspiration to forty million Scouts worldwide.

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About National Geographic Partners LLC

National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between National Geographic and 21st Century Fox, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographic's media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; children's media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses.

Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 128 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers ... and reaching over 730 million people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

About NBCUniversal Television and New Media Distribution

NBCUniversal Television and New Media Distribution is responsible for the sales and distribution of NBCUniversal product to all forms of television within the U.S. and Canada. This includes current television and film product as well as content from NBCUniversal's vast library (Universal Pictures, Focus Features, Universal Television, Universal Cable Productions, NBC Late Night properties, etc.) distributed in basic cable, pay cable and subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) markets. The division is also responsible for the sales of NBCUniversal content to non-theatrical markets including airlines worldwide.

About Electus

Electus is a full-service production studio that creates, produces and sells domestically and internationally a broad range of scripted and unscripted entertainment and branded content to broadcast, cable and digital/OTT platforms around the world. With talent, production and distribution under one roof, the company's hit series include Running Wild with Bear Grylls (NBC), The Toy Box (ABC), Jane the Virgin (The CW), Flaked (Netflix) and Darkness, launched recently on Discovery. Also under the Electus banner is a collection of production companies including Big Breakfast, which develops and produces scripted and unscripted comedic content (Adam Ruins Everything for truTV, I Want My Phone Back for Facebook's new Watch platform and the upcoming Hot Date for POP) and Notional, producer of the acclaimed Chopped, Chopped Junior, Chopped All-Stars and Chopped After Dark. Electus has also struck strategic investment deals with such companies as Hudsun Media (House of DVF for E!) and Tim Puntillo's Rio Bravo (Food Fighters for NBC), and in 2017 became a majority investor in leading management and production company Principato-Young. Electus International's robust distribution business represents more than 4,000 hours of content sold to more than 220 countries around the world, with Electus Digital creating and distributing original content focused on comedy and animation - including famed CollegeHumor.com, as well as Dorkly and Drawfee - and spearheading marketing and media campaigns for leading brands and advertisers. Electus is an operating business of IAC [NASDAQ: IAC]. For more information, visit www.electus.com.