Synacor And Foxsports.com Team Up To Deliver Premium Subscription Content To Broadband Households

Sports Video, Games and Content to be made available to ISPs, MSOs and Telcos

March 4th 2003

BUFFALO, March 4, 2003 — Synacor, the leader in online content provisioning for Internet access providers, and FOXSports.com today announced an agreement that will enable Synacor’s customers to bundle exclusive subscription-based sports products, including “Hit the Pros,” Fox Sports VIDEO VIP and Fox Sports Fantasy Challenge Games, with their connectivity services. Synacor, which provides content and technology that enable access providers to sell premium subscription services to their subscribers, is the first company to sign an agreement with FOXSports.com to resell its online products to ISPs, MSOs and Telcos. FairPoint Communications and Susquehanna Communications will be the first Synacor customers to begin offering these premium subscriptions to their users in the coming weeks.

“Our licensing arrangement with FOXSports.com enables Synacor to provide its customers with some of the most sought after premium programming on the Internet today,” said Ron Frankel, president and CEO of Synacor. “Consumers want a rich and easy-to-use online experience. Synacor’s Portelus provisioning platform allows us to deliver premium content – both video and non-video – from a variety of sources, which access providers can then bundle into subscriptions that meet their customers’ needs. Fox Sports products are key to our offering.”

“We are excited to work with Synacor to extend the distribution base for our online products,” said Ross Levinsohn, SVP and general manager, FOXSports.com. “Synacor’s ability to deliver unified registration and single sign-on in a subscription offering makes it easy for consumers to enjoy their Fox Sports online experience.”
Through Synacor’s presentation of Fox Sports VIDEO VIP, subscribers will receive content specific to their region, in addition to world content. Synacor’s technology also allows subscribers to personalize their Fox experience using filters to select sports topics that interest them most. In addition to Fox Sports VIDEO VIP, Synacor customers also can offer Fox Sports’ Fantasy Challenge Games, including salary cap-based online golf, basketball, racing and baseball fantasy tournaments, and its “Hit the Pros” online baseball game, the world’s first online sports game with real pitches from actual major league games.

Synacor’s Portelus™ platform enables access providers to increase revenue by offering content and value-added services that their subscribers could otherwise purchase elsewhere. Synacor’s robust provisioning platform enables the integration of both video and non-video content and services from multiple content providers. Using the Portelus platform, access providers can customize their offerings into different subscription tiers and bill for content access along with their monthly service charge, much like the cable TV industry. Unified registration, single sign-on and integrated billing make the experience seamless for their subscribers. Synacor’s end-to-end solution includes a wide menu of licensed content, an integration and unification system, and a brandable and customizable portal framework.

The Online Publishers Association reports that U.S. consumers spent $975 million for online content in the first nine months of 2002, up 125 percent from the year prior. Jupiter predicts that the paid content market will grow to $5.8 billion by 2006.

About Synacor
Synacor (www.synacor.com) brings the cable television model to the Internet by enabling access providers to offer basic and premium content subscription packages to their customers in a compelling and easy-to-use manner. The company’s end-to-end solution helps narrowband, broadband and wireless access providers to quickly deploy these value-added services and recognize an immediate positive impact on customer retention and revenues per subscriber. Synacor’s Portelus platform delivers the combined strength of a flexible, brandable Internet portal framework, a robust provisioning engine, a unified back end, and a menu of standard and premium content from the industry’s top providers. With offices in Buffalo, New York and Los Angeles, Synacor powers a national network of customers.

About FOXSports.com
FOXSports.com (www.foxsports.com) is owned and managed by FOX Sports Network, a subsidiary of FOX Entertainment Group, a division of News Corp. It is a comprehensive and entertaining online source of sports news, information, listings, games and special features about programming on FOX Sports, FOX Sports Net, FX, FOX Sports Radio and much more from the world of sports.