FOX Sports and MSN Offer Fantasy Football Fanatics a New Home Field

FOX Sports and MSN Offer Fantasy Football Fanatics a New Home Field

Players Can Form Leagues, Receive Live Scoring Updates, Get Expert Analysis and Enjoy Other Premium Features Free; New Site Feature Coincides With First Anniversary of FOXSports.com on MSN

LOS ANGELES and REDMOND, Wash., June 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Fantasy football enthusiasts can now indulge their love of the game through a new online offering from FOXSports.com on MSN(R) that provides premium features such as live scoring, expert analysis, and trade and transaction forecasting -- all for free. Debuting today, FOX Fantasy Football Powered by MSN adds even greater appeal to FOXSports.com on MSN, the fastest-growing major sports site on the Web.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO )

"FOX Fantasy Football rivals the depth and quality of any fantasy football product available, and it's totally free," said Ross Levinsohn, senior vice president and general manager of FOX Sports Interactive Media. "MSN is our ideal teammate, and the first year of our alliance has been extremely successful, both in terms of audience growth and advertiser response."

Fans can visit http://msn.foxsports.com/fantasyfootball today to create their own fantasy football team by either signing up as a commissioner and establishing a new league with friends or joining an existing league. To help fans prepare for season-opening activities, the Web site features up-to-date fantasy news, team-by-team previews, player rankings, and in-depth commentary provided by FOX Sports football experts. July 27 is the first day that participants in Fox Fantasy Football Powered by MSN can draft NFL players to fill their fantasy team rosters.

Fox Fantasy Football Powered by MSN features a unique forecasting analysis engine that allows league participants to dissect potential player trades, study projected matchups for each week's game, and weigh the pros and cons of adding players to a team roster or dropping them. Commissioners can view live scores and results, league standings, game previews and recaps, individual player performance summaries, and a wealth of other statistics on the site. Another feature exclusive to Fox Fantasy Football Powered by MSN is participants' ability to sign up through MSN Alerts for updates on what's happening in their fantasy football league. The updates will be available via e-mail and MSN Messenger and on mobile devices*, so fans can stay on top of the action.

Other features include message boards, customizable scoring, multiple drafting options, and league and team trophy cases. Fox Fantasy Football Powered by MSN includes both public and private leagues, and a Matchmaker tool is available to help individual fans join a league that best suits their experience level and interests.

"From up-to-the-moment scores and statistics to expert commentaries on every aspect of the game, FOXSports.com on MSN now offers the most advanced, free fantasy football service to sports fans," said Hadi Partovi, general manager of the MSN Portal. "No other sports content provider brings more passion or greater expertise to covering football than the people at FOX Sports, which is a big reason why we're so excited to be teaming with them to launch this premier fantasy football service."

According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, 15.2 million adults in the U.S. participate in fantasy sports leagues, and 12 million adult Americans said they played fantasy football in the past year.

Launched July 1, 2004, FOXSports.com on MSN offers fans and marketing partners a rich blend of exclusive editorial content and fast, easy access to breaking news, scores, streaming video, game highlights and much more. During the first 11 months of the FOX Sports-MSN alliance, FOXSports.com on MSN has averaged 11.2 million unique visitors per month, according to ComScore Media Metrix. Significantly more people are visiting FoxSports.com since it teamed with MSN: Visitors to FoxSports.com on MSN in May 2005 increased 411% compared with visitors to FoxSports.com in May 2004, according to ComScore Media Metrix.

About FOX Sports, Fox Sports Net and FOX Sports Interactive Media

In just ten years of existence, FOX Sports has earned numerous Emmy Awards for excellence in the presentation of the biggest sporting events on television, more than any other network during the same stretch of time. FOX Sports is the exclusive network broadcast rights holder for Major League Baseball, the exclusive network broadcaster of NFC regular-season National Football League games and a rights holder of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series racing. FSN reaches more than 81 million homes through its 20 regional sports channels, and serves as the only supplier of national, regional and local sports programming. FOX Sports Interactive Media (FSIM) develops new media initiatives for FOX Sports and Fox Sports Net. FSIM distribution channels include Internet ( http://www.msn.foxsports.com/ ), broadband, wireless and interactive television. FoxSports.com is a comprehensive and entertaining online source of sports news, information, listings, games and special features about programming on FOX Sports, Fox Sports Net, FOX Sports Radio and much more from the world of sports. FSIM is owned and managed by FOX Sports Networks, a subsidiary of Fox Entertainment Group (NYSE:FOX), a division of News Corp.

About MSN

MSN attracts more than 400 million unique users worldwide per month. With localized versions available globally in 41 markets and 20 languages, MSN is a world leader in delivering Web services to consumers and online advertising opportunities to businesses worldwide. The most useful and innovative online service today, MSN brings consumers everything they need from the Web to make the most of their time online. MSN is located on the Web at http://www.msn.com/ . MSN worldwide sites are located at http://www.msn.com/worldwide.ashx .

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

* MSN Mobile subscription service and/or wireless airtime charges may apply for Alerts sent to mobile phones.

NOTE: Microsoft and MSN are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

The FOXSports.com, FOX Sports Interactive Media and Fox Sports Net name and logos are trademarks of or otherwise owned by 20th Century Fox and its related entities. All rights reserved.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/ PRN Photo Desk photodesk@prnewswire.com Source: Microsoft Corp.

CONTACT: Erika Bitzer, +1-503-443-7000, or Rapid Response Team, +1-503-443-7070, or rrt@wagged.com, both of Waggener Edstrom, for Microsoft Corp; or Lou D'Ermilio of FOX Sports, +1-212-556-2573

Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft(R) Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass on Microsoft's corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft's Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.mspx

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