MTV and Seventeen Magazine Announce Exciting Partnership for New Fall '05 Series; Series Goes Behind-the-Scenes of Seventeen's Search for a Real-Life Cover Girl

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 28, 2005--MTV: Music Television and Seventeen, the #1 magazine for teens, published by Hearst Magazines, today announced a ten episode pick-up of a new series for the cable network. "Project Seventeen" (Working Title) will start production in April and is scheduled to premiere on MTV in the fall of 2005. "Project Seventeen" will chronicle the magazine's search for a girl who most deserves the title of "America's Sweetheart."

Young women from across the country will compete to prove that they have all the well-rounded credentials to be a role model to Seventeen's 13 million readers. The winner of the show will receive a prize package that includes a college scholarship, a paid internship at Seventeen and her face on the cover of America's biggest selling teen magazine. Casting calls for the new series will take place this spring in cities across the country. Exact times, dates and locations will be announced shortly.

“Our readers have grown up watching reality TV and expect their favorite brands like Seventeen to have a multimedia presence that makes them an even bigger part of their daily lives”

Since the majority of Seventeen readers watch MTV more than any other network (Source: 2004 Twelveplus), "Project Seventeen" is a natural progression of MTV and Seventeen's already strong relationship. Seventeen's April 2005 issue, on newsstands now, carries an MTV theme throughout its pages. The issue features exclusive interviews with MTV celebrities, beauty secrets of today's biggest stars and the scoop on the network's hot new shows. An announcement of the Seventeen reality show on MTV also appears in the April issue.

"MTV is the perfect partner for a reality show with Seventeen because both brands talk to today's young audience with the same successful mix of real-life honesty," said Hearst Magazines President Cathleen P. Black. "Bringing the pages of Seventeen to life with one of today's most respected and popular television networks for young people is a very exciting project."

"Since our viewers look to MTV for access and a behind-the-scenes perspective to the real world, we can't wait to capture the drama and excitement of what it takes to be a Seventeen cover model," says Lois Curren, Executive Vice President, Series Entertainment, MTV. "We are confident that this will be a series that is completely entertaining -- and empowering -- to our joint audiences."

"Our readers have grown up watching reality TV and expect their favorite brands like Seventeen to have a multimedia presence that makes them an even bigger part of their daily lives," said Seventeen Editor-in-Chief Atoosa Rubenstein. "We need to speak to our readers online, in print and on television to stay relevant and top of mind in a world where they communicate in so many different ways."

Lois Curren, Rod Aissa and Greg Johnston will be Executive Producers. Jessica Samet and Drew Tappon will be Co-Executives in Charge of Production for MTV. Collectively, this team has worked on such projects as "Punk'd", "Newlyweds" and "Real World." Atoosa Rubenstein will be Executive Producer and Creator on the series for Seventeen.

International Creative Management brokered the deal for "Project Seventeen."

MTV Networks owns and operates the cable television programming services MTV: Music Television, MTV2, Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite, TV Land, VH1, CMT: Country Music Television, and Spike TV, as well as The Digital Suite from MTV Networks, a package of thirteen digital services, all of which are trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks also operates and offers joint ventures, licensing agreements and syndication deals whereby its programming can be seen worldwide.

Seventeen reaches over 13 million readers every month and is today's largest selling young women's magazine. Seventeen is part of Hearst Magazines, a unit of The Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com), one of the world's largest publishers of monthly magazines, with a total of 18 U.S. titles and 141 international editions. Hearst's magazines are read by more U.S. adult women than any other monthly magazine publisher. The company also publishes 19 magazines in the United Kingdom through its wholly owned subsidiary, The National Magazine Company Limited.