MBN, Monte Bubbles Network

Written by Joyce L Chow & William Hoehne February 21,2006

MBN

Beverly Hills, CA — Academy Award®-nominated actress Uma Thurman will be a presenter at the 78th Academy Awards ceremony on March 5, telecast producer Gil Cates announced today.

Thurman received an Oscar® nomination in 1994 for her supporting role in "Pulp Fiction." She currently can be seen in "The Producers" and will be seen next in "Super Ex-Girlfriend." Thurman's other film credits include "Be Cool," "Paycheck," "Vatel," "The Truth about Cats and Dogs" and the "Kill Bill" films.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2005 will be presented on Sunday, March 5, 2006, at the Kodak Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PST. A one-hour red carpet arrivals show will precede the telecast at 4 p.m.

Beverly Hills, CA —Academy Award nominees Dolly Parton and Kathleen "Bird" York will perform at the 78th Academy Awards, telecast producer Gil Cates announced today.

Grammy Award-winning artist Parton will perform her nominated original song, "Travelin' Thru" from "Transamerica" (music and lyric by Dolly Parton).

York will perform "In the Deep," from the film "Crash," for which she is nominated for writing the music and lyric. (Her co-composer Michael Becker also is nominated for the music.) York's debut CD on EMI "Wicked Little High," which features "In the Deep," will be released February 21.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2005 will be presented on Sunday, March 5, 2006, at the Kodak Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 5 p.m. PST. A one-hour red carpet arrivals show will precede the telecast at 4 p.m. Information about the 78th Annual Academy Awards can be accessed on line at www.oscar.com.

©A.M.P.A.S.®

An Austrian ski coach who bolted the Winter Games following a surprise anti-doping raid wound up in a psychiatric ward. Authorities were still analyzing 100 syringes and other material seized from athletes' housing.

Authorities took Walter Mayer into custody Sunday after he crashed his car into a police blockade . Police later took him to a psychiatric facility

Mayer was banished from the Olympics over allegations of blood doping at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. He resurfaced with the team in Turin, triggering police raids late Saturday. The first-ever doping sweep by police on athletes competing at the games.

Mayer left the Austrian biathlon and cross country team base in the Italian Alps sometime before or during the overnight raids. He made it back to his native Austria, driving at least 250 miles before he stopped on the side of the road, reportedly to take a nap.

Mayer seeing the police sped away, striking and slightly injuring an officer

Austria's cross country relay team came in last out of 16 teams the morning after the raids, which kept some of the athletes up all night.

Austrian ski officials said they had severed all ties with Mayer.

Mayer could be charged with evading arrest and causing bodily harm to a police officer.

During the raids, six skiers and four biathletes were taken for tests by the International Olympic Committee, hours before some were due to compete. The tests were still being analyzed.

Two biathletes Wolfgang Perner and Wolfgang Rottmann were suspended from the team for leaving Turin before the conclusion of the games.

Germany Seven Gold Seven Silver FourBronze

Norway Two Gold Seven Silver Eight Bronze

United States Seven Gold Five Silver Three Bronze

Austria Seven Gold Five Silver Three Bronze

Russia Six Gold Two Silver Five Bronze

Canada Three Gold Six Silver Five Bronze

Switzerland Two Gold Two Silver Four Bronze

South Korea Three Gold Three Silver One Silver

Italy Three Gold Four Bronze

Sweden Two Gold Two Silver Three Bronze

China One Gold Two Silver Four Bronze

France Three Gold One Silver Two Bronze

Netherlands Two Gold Two Silver Two Bronze

Finland Three Silver Three Bronze

Estonia Three Gold

Croatia One Gold Two Silver

Czech Republic Two Silver

Ukraine Two Bronze

Australia One Gold

Slovakia One Silver

United Kingdom One Silver

Bulgaria One Silver

Latvia One Bronze

SIRIUS SATELLITE'S SUBSCRIBER BASE INCREASED

SIRIUS SATELLITE'S SUBSCRIBER BASE INCREASED by almost 200 percent in 2005, ending the year with 3.3 million subscribers--about half of which came in the fourth quarter in anticipation of Howard Stern's high-profile move to Sirius on Jan. 6.

Sirius' fourth-quarter surge was bad news for its main competitor XM. Although XM remains the larger of the two--with 5.9 million net subscribers by the end of 2005--last week it disclosed serious losses in 2005, including big increases in the average amount of money spent to lure new subscribers. XM's expenses included a $196.5 million marketing blitz to counter Sirius' massive campaign for Stern.

Sirius reported a substantial decrease in average spending for subscription recruiting for 2005, although it was still higher than XM. Sirius also boasted a 262 percent increase in revenue over 2005, with a year-end total of $242 million. Meanwhile, XM reported net revenue growth of only 128 percent over 2004, taking in $558.3 million in 2005.

Both companies reported net losses as they invested heavily in acquiring new subscribers and fending off each other's sallies, with Sirius posting an $863 million net loss for 2005 versus XM's net loss of $666.7 million.

XM pioneered satellite radio broadcasting in 2001, but has been steadily overtaken in the last five years by Sirius, which opened up shop in late 2002.

One key question for media planners and buyers is whether either of the satellite radio broadcasters, which are jockeying for position, will begin accepting more advertising in a bid to lower subscription fees or offset costs.

Currently, Sirius doesn't carry advertising on any of its 68 music channels--but it does sell limited ad time on its entertainment, news, and sports channels.

XM has indicated it plans to significantly increase ad revenue in 2006.

NEW PROPOSALS TO ESTABLISH CONTROVERSIAL "do not e-mail" child protection registries advanced this month in three states, bringing to five the total number of states now considering such legislation--Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, and Iowa. Michigan and Utah remain the only states to have established do not e-mail registries, although Utah's law currently faces a court challenge.

The laws generally prohibit marketers from sending material considered harmful to minors to children's e-mail addresses. In Michigan and Utah, parents can submit their children's e-mail addresses to a registry, and then marketers of potentially inappropriate messages pay a fee to ensure that their e-mail lists don't contain any addresses on the registry.

Proponents of do not e-mail registries say they will prevent purveyors of pornography, alcohol, and cigarettes, among other material, from marketing to children.

COLDWELL BANKER LAUNCHED ITS NEW ad campaign Sunday night on prime-time television, but rather than simply plug its brand, the 15-second spots are expressly designed to drive consumers online.

The campaign includes a significant online ad buy, advertising will appear through the year across major portals like MSN and Yahoo, as well as more targeting buys such as MarthaStuart.com and HGTV.com.

Commercials will run during prime-time airings of "Law & Order," "Crossing Jordan," and "Grey's Anatomy"--the spots interspersed "60 Minutes" on Sunday night. They will also run on cable.

AMERICAN IDOL" MIGHT BE TROUNCING the Olympics on TV, but NBCOlympics.com is poised to win the online competition for viewers.

For the week ending Feb. 12, NBCOlympics.com drew 2.3 million unique users at home and work--nearly five times as many visitors as the site of "American Idol," IdolonFox.com, which attracted just 509,000 uniques, according to new data from Nielsen//NetRatings.

In a testament to the growing use of home broadband, NBCOlympics.com overall has garnered 55 percent more visitors from home than the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. On TV, however, ratings have plummeted compared to the 2002 Olympics.

Two other Olympics sites, Torino2006 and Olympic.org, also lured large numbers of Web surfers. Torino2006 drew 748,000 visitors, while Olympic.org received 433,000 visitors.

THE DISH NETWORK IS GOING live with a CNN Enhanced TV channel, featuring a new interactive system that allows viewers to explore background on stories of interest through a simple TV and remote interface.

The Dish Network's parent company, satellite service provider EchoStar, employed technology provided by digital TV programming and equipment maker OpenTV to create the interactive TV news program. CNN Enhanced TV will allow viewers to continue watching CNN's live broadcast while navigating through up to five different CNN news reports in text format. The text journalism will in most cases be the same content featured on CNN's Web site.

The joint military response to a devastating Feb. 17 mudslide in southern Leyte in the Philippines continues today, much of it being provided by sailors, Marines and airmen who were already in the region for a joint multinational training exercise, Balikatan, officials reported.

Continuous ship-to-shore movements of relief supplies, including food, water and blankets, continues today off the southern Leyte coast. Sailors and Marines from the Forward Deployed Amphibious Ready Group, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, Joint Task Force Balikatan and USS Curtis Wilbur arrived off the coast Feb. 19 to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to the victims. An initial group of 96 Marines from the 31st MEU went ashore by CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters with digging equipment to immediately assist with rescue efforts, officials reported.

A complement of 22 helicopters, landing craft air cushions, and more than 4,000 Marines and sailors will conduct the disaster relief mission, officials reported. "We plan to utilize Forward Deployed ARG assets to effectively provide maximum amount of aid to victims in order to mitigate suffering and prevent further loss of life in the wake of this tragic event," said Capt. Mark E. Donahue, commodore of Amphibious Squadron 11, the ARG's task group commander. "The sailors and Marines here are extremely dedicated individuals, ready to rise to the challenge ahead.

" USS Essex, USS Harpers Ferry, USS Curtis Wilbur and the 31st MEU arrived in Subic Bay Feb. 17 for Balikatan 06, but were immediately called to assist in the relief efforts in Leyte. USS Juneau, an amphibious transport dock known as "Mighty J," is also participating. Meanwhile, airmen from the 36th Contingency Response Group based at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, are working alongside the Filipino government to assess requirements for support of mudslide relief efforts. "Opening and securing airfields are the areas of expertise for the 36th CRG," said Capt. Kevin Walker, 736th Security Forces Squadron commander.

"Members of the 36th CRG leadership have gone forward to the affected area to assess the situation and find the best ways to bring in support." The Pacific Air Forces first C-17 Globemaster III from Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, is scheduled to land in the region on its first strategic airlift mission. In addition to support personnel, this aircraft will carry water, meals ready to eat, tents, cots and heavy equipment. Airmen of the 36th CRG were already deployed to the Philippines for the Balikatan '06 exercise when mudslides engulfed a village and 1,800 people Feb. 17.

Days of continuous heavy rain and flooding hit Leyte Island, about 420 miles southeast of Manila, and led to the landslide, which has virtually washed away the farming village of Guinsahugon, as well as two other villages. Many of the military responders have previous disaster relief experience under their belts. Many 36th CRG airmen supported tsunami relief efforts of Operation Unified Assistance in early 2005. Forward-deployed ARG assets, Essex and Fort McHenry previously participated in Operation Unified Assistance, providing aid to victims of the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia. The ships delivered approximately 6 million pounds of relief supplies during the operation. Fort McHenry also provided humanitarian assistance after a series of early December 2004 typhoons and tropical storms caused massive flooding and landslides on the Philippine island of Luzon.

During that humanitarian assistance effort, Fort McHenry delivered 30,000 pounds of supplies and helped treat 100 patients, according to U.S. Embassy officials in the Philippines. "The sailors and Marines of the Forward Deployed ARG have a strong history of providing much-needed assistance during difficult times.

That legacy, that we do not take lightly, and our long enduring friendship that we have established with the people of the Philippines, gives me confidence that we will together get through this crisis," said Donahue. The Forward Deployed ARG is part of Task Force 76, the Navy's only forward-deployed amphibious force. It is headquartered at White Beach Naval Facility, Okinawa, Japan, with an operating detachment in Sasebo, Japan. The U.S. Agency for International Development has authorized immediate dispersal of $100,000 to the Philippine Red Cross and is airlifting additional emergency supplies to the area.