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(PR NEWSWIRE) MSH Entertainment Launches Expansive Interactive Digital Del
MSH Entertainment Launches Expansive Interactive Digital Delivery Network -
KidsAndFamily.net
Hailed As the 'Nickelodeon of the Net,' System Offers Digital Distribution of
Children's TV Content and Supportive Link Exchange/Advertising & Marketing
Cooperative Umbrella for Thousands of Children's and Family Sites on the Web
LOS ANGELES, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- MSH Entertainment Corp.
(OTC Bulletin Board: MSHE), a multi-platform, family-oriented entertainment
company, has launched KidsAndFamily.net, a unique concept in the digital
delivery of content described as "the interactive TV network of the future."
Aimed at the $1 billion children's marketplace, the new Internet network will
operate out of MSHE's facility in Sausalito, CA. Plans call to debut phase I
within 180 days as a KidsAndFamily.net network with affiliate sites under its
umbrella, and four owned and operated MSHE sites -- JustKids.com,
BeAnything.com, Cartoonsondemand.com and Tunesondemand.com.
Under this umbrella strategy, MSHE is aggressively linking hundreds, even
thousands, of major and independent children's and family oriented sites via a
cooperative arrangement offering advertising and marketing support.
KidsAndFamily.net, a wholly owned subsidiary of MSH Entertainment, will be
headed by prominent Internet pioneer Bob Heyman, founder of the Internet
marketing and design firm Cybernautics, whose blue-chip client list included
America On Line, Time-Warner, Netscape, Silicon Graphics and many others
before it merged with US Web (Nasdaq: USWB) in 1997. Under Heyman's
leadership, KidsAndFamily.net will build viewers via hyperlinking thousands of
children's and family sites through a cooperative banner advertising program -
- building traffic between sites and allowing advertisers to consolidate ad
placement efforts while maximizing ad dollars through the purchase of segments
or small, site-specific ads and/or KidsAndFamily.net "run of network"
packages. Ultimately, KidsAndFamily.net will be able to deliver high-quality,
original programming at a fraction of the cost of what it would be to produce
television content.
Heyman notes that "The network is positioned at the edge of the
convergence of the worlds of television and the Internet -- offering unique
advantages to content providers, advertisers and the nearly 10 million kids on
the net, with that number expected to triple in the next five years."
KidsAndFamily.net will utilize streaming media using a broadcast television
network model adapted for the Internet. Heyman describes the network as going
"several steps beyond the concept of IVillage" -- a women's skewed network
which has received much recent attention.
Besides featuring web sites built by MSHE, KidsAndFamily.net will actively
seek to attract only the best "affiliate" sites content-wise, sites like
Amazon.com, E-bay, women.com, eTOYS and Microsoft from the many thousands of
sites populating the web.
Besides big names, Heyman comments that the network will also support
"wonderful sites created by parents, teachers and kids, which are
self-published on the net now, but operating in a vacuum due to lack of
exposure."
Adds Jonathan Stathakis, Emmy award-winning producer and president of
MSHE: "By being invited to become part of the KidsAndFamily.net system, it
will be akin to receiving 'The Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval' for web
sites. We will be reviewing participating sites on a regular basis with the
help of a distinguished Board of child psychologists and educators who will be
screening for content and quality."
"The launch of KidsAndFamily.net is part of MSHE's overall corporate
strategy of the 'vertical integration' of entertainment, marketing,
communications and technology," comments MSH Entertainment CEO Robert Maerz.
"Owning an Internet company will allow us to fully capitalize on our strengths
in family entertainment."
According to Heyman, the four MSHE-produced sites under the new network
will "set the high standard" for the innovative content available on
KidsAndFamily.net. The first site slated to launch, Justkids.com, features
chat, bulletin boards, free e-mail, games and a special "homework helper" that
links to tutorial sites, as well as galleries for kids to display their
photos, artwork, writings and travel diaries. Adds Stathakis: "Justkids.com
is a site designed to be just as much by kids as for kids."
BeAnything.com, the second site to launch, features Avatar technology and
is designed to be the premiere career exploration site for kids on the
Internet. Maerz explains: "If a child is interested in being an astronaut,
for example, this innovative technology will allow the child to navigate his
or her way through the chosen information pathways as if they were in a rocket
ship, 'through' the eyes of the astronaut, making this site's creative and
technical aspects superior to anything in its class on the web."
The Cartoonsondemand.com site will initially spotlight original cartoons
which are produced and licensed by MSHE and its newly acquired toy,
merchandising and television production company, Abrams-Gentile Entertainment
(A.G.E.). A.G.E. has developed some of the most successful toys in history,
including "The PowerGlove," "Teen Talk Barbie" and" Popcorn Pretties" for
Mattel; "SkyDancer" and "DragonFlyz" for Galoob; "Bucky O'Hare" for
Hasbro/Kenner as well as several Saturday morning television series. MSHE and
A.G.E. co-produced the successful award-winning syndicated kid's TV series,
"VanPires," produced with MSHE's proprietary Animation Software Management
System, JETHRO, developed in association with Intel (Nasdaq: INTC).
Andrew Steiner, vice president of corporate development, adds: "The web
offers a whole new universe for the distribution and dissemination of
programming, licensing and merchandising of both existing franchises and new
franchises. MSHE now has the ability to develop and produce new franchises
specifically for the web at a fraction of the cost of regular broadcast, and
we will be able to license and sell our products through the vast array of web
channels that we are setting up. This will add real enhanced value to the
company and to that of our shareholders."
Tunesondemand.com will initially offer soundtrack and music product
controlled by MSHE and, later, a wide variety of music available through
cross-licensing agreements with major labels. Phase two will consist of
KidsAndFamily.net/imall, a children's shopping mall on the Net, featuring
CD-ROMs, clothing, toys, books, videos and a wide array of products.
The announcement comes on the heels of Monday's (3-29-99) unsolicited
offer of $1.75 per share for a minimum of 51% of the outstanding stock of MSHE
from Pluto Australasia Pty., Ltd., an Australian multimedia company.
MSHE is a film, television, computer animation, Internet, home video
production and distribution company. Its key management team and creative
staff is comprised of various entertainment professionals, who, as a group,
have won numerous entertainment industry honors, including Emmy, ACE and Tony
awards. MSHE is a publicly traded company.
The telephone number for MSHE's Sausalito offices is 415-331-MSHE, Fax is
415-331-6741. The address is MSH Entertainment/KidsAndFamily.net,
85 Liberty Ship Way, Suite 105, Sausalito, CA 94965. The Web site is
www.MSHE.com. The E-mail address is mshe6743@aol.com. MSHE's Los Angeles
offices can be reached at 310-664-1090, Fax is 310-664-1190.
SOURCE MSH Entertainment Corp.
-0- 03/31/99
/CONTACT: Jeff Urdank of MSH Entertainment Corp., 818-509-0195/
/Web site: tunesondemand.com
/Web site: cartoonsondemand.com
/Web site: beanything.com
/Web site: justkids.com
/Web site: kidsandfamily.net
/Web site: mshe.com
(MSHE)
CO: MSH Entertainment Corp.; KidsAndFamily.net
ST: California
IN: MLM CPR ADV
SU: PDT
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