Barack Obama Next to Participate in MySpace, MTV Presidential Dialogue Series

- Groundbreaking Series Continues October 29 at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, IA
- Event Will Stream Live on MySpace.com, MTV's ChooseOrLose.com and MTV Mobile at 1:30 pm ET, Premiere on MTV at 7 pm ET/PT

LOS ANGELES & NEW YORK, Oct 18, 2007 -- MySpace, the country's most trafficked website, and MTV, the leading global youth brand, today announced that U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois) will be the next participant in their groundbreaking Presidential Dialogue series. The Dialogue with Sen. Barack Obama will take place October 29 at 1:30 pm ET/10:30 am PT on the campus of Coe College in Cedar Rapids, IA, be streamed live on MySpace, MTV's ChooseOrLose.com and MTV Mobile, and exclusively premiere on air on MTV at 7 pm ET/PT that night. MTV News Correspondents Gideon Yago and Sway Calloway, as well as WashingtonPost.com political reporter Chris Cillizza, will serve as moderators. Industry-leading pollsters John McLaughlin and Geoffrey Garin will return to oversee the real-time polling data and questions submitted via MySpaceIM and Think.MTV.com.

The inaugural MySpace / MTV Presidential Dialogue, with former Senator John Edwards, reached a wide audience on-air, online and on mobile phones. Held September 27 at the University of New Hampshire, the event was broadcast live on MySpace and www.ChooseorLose.com, and since its online premiere, has been streamed approximately 350,000 times. The on-air broadcast (7-8 pm ET) was the #1 program for viewers aged 18-24 across all of cable for the time period, and was seen by a total of nearly two million viewers overall (all ages). Nearly 2,300 questions were submitted for Senator Edwards by online viewers during the course of the one hour Dialogue. Adding to its historical significance, the Dialogue with John Edwards was the first-ever Presidential forum to be broadcast live on mobile phones, via MTV Mobile.

The MySpace and MTV Dialogue series is the first in history to allow a national at home audience the opportunity to respond to candidate's answers instantaneously - with that feedback piped back into the discussion and used to shape its direction - as well as the ability to pose questions in real-time, via MySpaceIM and ChooseOrLose.com. Throughout the event, online viewers can immediately register their approval or disapproval of a candidate's responses via a revolutionary online polling tool, powered by Flektor (www.flektor.com), as they watch the Dialogue live. Instant results are displayed on the screen and viewers can compare their opinions to those of the entire community through a "popular vote" function. Poll results are available online live during each event and archived for future viewing.

"MySpace and MTV Present: A Presidential Dialogue with Barack Obama" (U.S. Senator Barack Obama - www.myspace.com/barackobama) will be webcast live and archived for future viewing on both MySpace (www.myspace.com/election2008) and www.chooseorlose.com, and broadcast live on mobile phones through MTV Mobile. The event will also be translated live into Spanish and available via ImpreMedia's LaVibra (www.lavibra.com/candidatos) and simulcast in English on MTV Radio. In addition to the MTV on-air premiere at 7 pm ET, highlights from the event will also be broadcast throughout the day on mtvU, MTV's 24-hour college network.

The Presidential Dialogue series is a key component of the MySpace Impact Channel (http://impact.myspace.com) and MTV's "Choose or Lose" (www.ChooseorLose.com). "Choose or Lose" is MTV's Emmy-Award winning campaign to engage, inform and empower young voters on the political issues that matter to them most. First launched in 1992, the campaign has helped fuel several of the largest youth voter turnouts in US history, including in 2004, when it helped inspire nearly 22 million 18-30 year olds to register and vote. The Impact channel is MySpace's new hub for social and civic engagement, designed to empower MySpace users to make a difference in the world and to allow politicians, non-profits, and civic organizations to connect with MySpace's global audience. The Impact Channel houses the official MySpace pages for all of the major party Presidential candidates, as well as tools to enable voter registration, fundraising, and volunteering.

Each an hour in length and held on college campuses nationwide, the Presidential Dialogue series will feature frontrunner candidates from both the Republican and Democratic parties. The event at Coe College with Senator Obama will feature an audience comprised entirely of the university's students, who will have the opportunity to question the Senator on issues that concern them most.

About MySpace

MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc., is the premier lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, discovering popular culture, and making a positive impact on the world. By integrating web profiles, blogs, instant messaging, e-mail, music streaming, music videos, photo galleries, classified listings, events, groups, college communities, and member forums, MySpace has created a connected community. As the first ranked web domain in terms of page views(a), MySpace is the most widely-used and highly regarded site of its kind and is committed to providing the highest quality member experience. MySpace will continue to innovate with new features that allow its members to express their creativity and share their lives, both online and off. MySpace's international network includes localized community sites in the United States, France, Germany, Australia, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland, Austria, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Japan, Sweden, Latin America, Denmark, Norway, Finland and the United Kingdom. Fox Interactive Media is a division of News Corp. (NYSE:NWS)(NYSE:NWS.A)(ASX:NWS)(ASX:NWSLV).

(a) Among the top 2000 domains comScore Media Metrix, August 2007. For more information on comScore Networks, please go to http://www.comscore.com.

About MTV Networks

MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE:VIA)(NYSE:VIA.B), is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. MTV Networks, with more than 130 channels worldwide, owns and operates the following television programming services - MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION, MTV2, VH1, mtvU, NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN, VH1 CLASSIC, LOGO, MTVN INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV NETWORKS, a package of 13 digital services, all of which are trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks connects with its audiences through its robust consumer products businesses and its more than 200 interactive properties worldwide, including online, broadband, wireless and interactive television services. The network also has licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication deals whereby all of its programming services can be seen worldwide.

Source: Viacom

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