And another one:
CNET and HealthAxis.com Announce Agreement for HealthAxis.com to be Exclusive Direct Marketer of Health Insurance On CNET and Snap!
SAN FRANCISCO and NORRISTOWN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 17, 1998--
HealthAxis.com to Offer Individual and Small Group Health Insurance Through Prominent Promotions on CNET's Network of World Wide Web Sites
and on Its Television Programming
CNET's Users Will Have 24-Hour Access and the Ability to Purchase a
Full Range of Insurance Products and Services at Very Competitive
Prices
CNET: The Computer Network [NASDAQ:CNWK], and HealthAxis.com, the pioneer in the electronic distribution of health insurance, today announced an alliance that will make HealthAxis.com the exclusive direct marketer of health insurance and certain other health care-related insurance products and services throughout CNET, the Internet's leading content network, and Snap!, the directory, search and navigation service jointly owned and operated by CNET and NBC.
Under the agreement, HealthAxis.com, the online subsidiary of Provident American Corporation [OTC Electronic Bulletin Board:PAMC], formerly Insurion, Inc., will receive widespread promotion through prominent placement of HealthAxis.com banners, and television and other online promotions throughout CNET, including on CNET.COM, SEARCH.COM, NEWS.COM, and DOWNLOAD.COM. In addition, links to HealthAxis.com will be located within Snap!'s Health, Business & Money and Living directory categories.
HealthAxis.com plans to make available to the millions of users who visit CNET's sites every day a full range of insurance products, including health insurance for individuals and small groups, dental insurance, vision care insurance, prescription coverage, critical care and long-term care insurance. HealthAxis.com also plans to provide product and health information, instant price quotes, online billing, claim status, and policy or personal information changes, and a 24-hour customer hotline.
HealthAxis.com is developing a highly interactive, user-friendly one-stop health care insurance Web site. The new site, www.healthaxis.com, and links to it from the CNET service are expected to launch in the fall of 1998. HealthAxis.com has partnered with HealthPlan Services [NYSE:HPS], the nation's largest third-party administrator, to ensure the best quality of service and the best, highly individualized, technological support for the interactive site. HealthAxis.com customers will have access to the largest directly contracted PPO network in the nation with approximately 270,000 physicians and 3,100 hospitals through Provident's alliance with First Health Group [NASDAQ:FHCC].
Martin Green, CNET's Vice President, Strategic Development, said, "We are pleased to provide the users of CNET and Snap! with convenient access to this outstanding resource for health insurance information, product sales and pricing. HealthAxis.com plans to deliver a high quality, reliable Internet service that will be of interest and importance to a broad audience, and a valuable addition to the variety of useful services we currently make available to our users."
Michael Ashker, President and CEO of HealthAxis.com, commented, "This alliance with CNET is a major step forward in our strategy to become the premier online provider of health insurance and services to the small group and individual markets. With this agreement, we will be in a position to provide one of the largest and most valuable audiences on the Internet with the tools to make informed health insurance decisions in the privacy of their own homes, on their own schedules - day or night. Now is an especially exciting time for us to partner with CNET as it aggressively turns Snap! into a true household name."
An initial Snap! brand awareness campaign is currently underway on the NBC television network, with plans for a full launch promotion scheduled for this fall. Snap! targets the critical 18-to-49 Internet demographic, which will also be the core customer base for HealthAxis.com.
CNET, Inc. is at the leading edge of media companies, producing a branded Internet network and television programming for both targeted and general audiences. Online and on television, CNET is the leading authority on computers, the Internet and digital technologies. CNET's network of sites is consistently ranked as the Internet's No.1 content network in terms of both audience size and revenue, serving millions of users each day. CNET television programming airs on USA Network, the Sci-Fi Channel and in national syndication, reaching an estimated weekly audience of over eight million viewers. CNET's programming also airs in 25 foreign countries, reaching millions of viewers worldwide. CNET, in partnership with NBC, is also the publisher of Snap!, a search and navigation service for all Internet users.
Snap!, the free Internet directory, search and navigation service jointly owned and operated by CNET, Inc. (Nasdaq:CNWK) and NBC, offers the most powerful way to organize and find anything on the Internet. The service is logically arranged to give users the quickest route to the best of what they are looking for on the Web, providing efficient, high-quality search results and directory listings. At the heart of the Snap! portal service is a directory of Web sites, built by a team of editors and reviewers to ensure its quality, freshness and usefulness. Users may either search the directory by using keywords, or browse through the directory's 16 topics: Arts & Humanities, Business & Money, Computing & Internet, Entertainment, Education, Health, Kids & Family, Living, Local, News, Oddities, People & Society, Science & Technology, Shopping, Sports and Travel. Snap! also features content from over 75 leading Web publishers. For Internet searching, Snap! offers users highly efficient and effective searching capability online, by tightly integrating a high-quality topical Internet directory with an advanced search engine. Snap! is now available to all Web users at snap.com and is also distributed by more than 40 leading Internet Service Providers, PC manufacturers and major marketers.
HealthAxis.com, a subsidiary of Provident American Corporation, is the pioneer in the electronic distribution of health insurance to the individual and small group markets. Through its interactive, user-friendly Web site, healthaxis.com, to be launched in Fall of 1998, HealthAxis.com will provide customers with access to and the ability to purchase a full range of high quality, flexible insurance products and services at very competitive prices.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements made by the Companies which are not historical facts may be considered forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements as to trends, management's beliefs, expectations and opinions, which are based upon a number of assumptions concerning future conditions that ultimately may prove to be inaccurate. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and may be affected by various factors which may cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. For further information which could cause actual results to differ from the Companies' expectations as well as other factors which could affect the Companies' financial statements, please refer to the Companies' reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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CONTACT:
CNET, San Francisco
Karen Wood, 415/395-7805, ext. 1552
karenw@cnet.com
or
HealthAxis.com, Norristown
Deidre Holt, 610/275-3800
deidreh@earthlink.net
or
Robinson Lerer & Montgomery, New York
For HealthAxis.com:
Kate Novack, 212/484-7799
knovack@rlmnet.com
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