For Immediate Release
July 31, 2003

MGM NETWORKS TO EXPAND CHANNEL BUSINESS IN ASIA

Forges Strategic Alliance with CNBC Asia Pacific to Launch MGM Channel to Audiences Across Key Asian Markets

 Los Angeles, CA and Singapore – MGM Networks, a unit of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (NYSE: MGM) announced today that it has entered into a strategic alliance with CNBC Asia Pacific to launch and market the MGM channel to subscribers across key markets in Asia.

MGM Networks and CNBC Asia Pacific will target the launch of the Channel for later this year. The channel will be broadcast in English, and will carry Mandarin language subtitling.  MGM and CNBC Asia Pacific are currently exploring several distribution opportunities in the region.

Capping significant growth over the last 24 months, which has seen MGM Networks expanding its global presence fourfold to nearly 100 countries around the world, this alliance will further broaden the presence of the MGM Networks in the Asia Pacific region.  MGM Networks’ current reach today in the region includes MGM branded channels in South Korea, India and New Zealand, as well as its joint venture interests in the Star Channel in Japan and Movie Channel Networks in Australia. 

With the launch of this MGM Channel in alliance with CNBC Asia Pacific, MGM Networks will have in deployment an array of satellite footprints across the globe that will allow technical receipt of MGM Networks channels in all significant international cable and satellite markets, including those within Europe, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific region.

The MGM/CNBC alliance, which will target those Asian markets where MGM Networks is not currently established (including the Greater China market and South East Asia) will add further dimension to a multi-faceted set of successful strategic alliances that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and NBC Enterprises have previously established in the U.S. and abroad.  These joint initiatives include the companies’ international distribution alliance (in which MGM distributes NBC Studios programming internationally), and their U.S. advertising sales joint venture, the MGM/NBC Media Sales Group. 

“The scope and extent of CNBC’s business activities across Asia, combined with the deep experience of its executive team, offers a number of very unique and compelling attractions for us,” said Bruce Tuchman, Executive Vice President, MGM Networks.  “By leveraging off of an infrastructure that CNBC has successfully established in these growing markets outside of our existing cluster of Asian businesses, we will have the opportunity to more rapidly penetrate these new markets with economies of scale.  In other words, this is the right model, with the right partner, at the right time for expanding our business more widely into Asia.”

MGM Networks channel interests in South Korea, India, New Zealand, Japan and Australia will continue to operate outside of the MGM/CNBC Asia channel alliance announced today. 

The MGM Channel in Asia plans to present round-the-clock offerings from MGM’s celebrated 4,000-title library, the largest modern film library in the world, including West Side Story, Midnight Cowboy, The Birdcage, The Pope of Greenwich Village, The Manchurian Candidate, and The Black Stallion.

According to Alexander Brown, President and CEO of CNBC Asia Pacific, ”This partnership is the culmination of months of planning and represents the union of two great brands in the entertainment and television industry. “

Brown continued, “Drawing on the respective strengths of our two organizations, we are thrilled to be working with MGM in bringing the MGM channel to Asia. There is no catalogue of titles in the movie industry that is nearly as extensive as that of MGM, which we are certain will bring value to basic cable subscribers across Asia.”

About Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (NYSE: MGM), through its Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. subsidiary, is actively engaged in the worldwide production and distribution of entertainment product, including motion pictures, television programming, home video, interactive media, music, and licensed merchandise.  The Company owns the largest modern film library in the world, consisting of approximately 4,000 titles.  Its operating units include MGM Pictures, United Artists, MGM Television Entertainment, MGM Networks, MGM Distribution Co., MGM Worldwide Television Distribution, MGM Home Entertainment, MGM On Stage, MGM Consumer Products, MGM Music, MGM Interactive and MGM Online.  In addition, MGM has ownership interest in international television channels reaching almost 100 countries around the globe.  For more information on MGM, visit MGM Online at http://www.mgm.com.

About CNBC Asia Pacific
CNBC is the undisputed world leader in business and financial information, providing viewers the world over with insights, analysis and real-time access to market data and indispensable business information.

Headquartered in Singapore, CNBC Asia Pacific is a business and financial news service organisation of Dow Jones & Company and NBC. Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal and its international and online editions, is a provider of vital world business and financial information; NBC, a leading television network in the United States, is a division of General Electric Company, one of the most successful companies in the world.

CNBC Asia Pacific's channels - CNBC Asia, CNBC Australia, CNBC India, Nikkei-CNBC (Japan), MBN-CNBC (Korea), CNBC Singapore and CNBC Hong Kong - are available in more than 25 million homes across the Asia Pacific region. The channels are distributed via satellite, cable and terrestrial broadcast networks. The website address is www.cnbcasia.com.