Comcast and CN8, the Comcast Network Present 'Candidates on Demand' Featuring High-Profile New Jersey Gubernatorial Race

Comcast and CN8, the Comcast Network Present 'Candidates on Demand' Featuring High-Profile New Jersey Gubernatorial Race

Comcast and CN8 to Provide Extensive Coverage and Exclusive Interviews ON DEMAND and Live On-Air

UNION, N.J., Oct. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Comcast casts its vote for political awareness and education, providing customers and viewers throughout New Jersey and the Greater Philadelphia area with unprecedented access to political information about the candidates, platforms and policies impacting the Garden State. CN8, led by its Emmy Award-winning political director, Lynn Doyle, will cover the action leading up to and through Election Night, and Comcast Digital Cable customers will be able to access exclusive interviews with the candidates any time and as often as they would like, thanks to Comcast's Video On Demand interactive platform. ON DEMAND coverage of the Gubernatorial Race will be available at no additional cost to digital customers beginning Monday, October 3, and will remain accessible through Election Day, on Tuesday, November 8.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010815/PHW029LOGO )

"CN8 Presents: Candidates on Demand" is an exclusive public service for Comcast Digital subscribers in the region, enabling them to get the news they want, when they want it. ON DEMAND content will feature in-depth campaign interviews with the leading candidates of the New Jersey Gubernatorial Race, including Senator Jon Corzine and Doug Forrester, among others. This innovative use of ON DEMAND was first used for last year's hotly-contested Colorado Senate race, and has been expanded for the New Jersey race for Governor.

"In the age of sound bite political campaigns, 'CN8 Presents: Candidates on Demand' empowers voters with the information necessary to make an educated vote," said Michael Doyle, president, Comcast Cable Eastern Division and founder, CN8, The Comcast Network. "By combining and leveraging our Digital Cable platform, ON DEMAND, CN8, and Newsmakers assets, we are able to provide customers and viewers with unprecedented access to a high-visibility race with a wide range of issues and implications."

CN8 invited all certified candidates to tape "Newsmakers" segments. Beginning Monday, October 3, interviews with eight of the New Jersey gubernatorial candidates will be available ON DEMAND, including segments with Senator Jon Corzine, Doug Forrester, Hector Castillo, Jeffrey Pawlowski, Michael Latigona, Constantino Rozzo, Edward Forchion and Matt Thieke. These special five-minute discussions will examine the candidates' campaigns, platforms and positions on a host of policies. Thirty-minute in-depth interviews with the Democratic and Republican candidates, Senator Corzine and Forrester, will also be available for viewing.

"CN8 Presents: Candidates on Demand" will be produced entirely by CN8. CN8 Newsmakers host, Joe Bisicchia, conducted each interview and asked candidates different questions based on their stated positions on specific issues. The five-minute candidate interviews will also air on CNN Headline News as "Comcast Newsmakers" segments at :24 past the hour, running 32 times in a two- week period beginning Wednesday, October 26 through Tuesday, November 8, on Comcast systems in New Jersey.

Lynn Doyle, CN8's political director and host/executive producer of "It's Your Call with Lynn Doyle" will oversee the Network's extensive coverage leading up to and through Election Night. CN8 will offer comprehensive, in- depth Election Night coverage on Tuesday, November 8 beginning at 7:00 PM/ET as "CN8 News" goes live to campaign headquarters and the New Jersey polls to track candidate and voter reactions. At 8:00 PM/ET, CN8's "Money Matters Today" will examine campaign topics relating to personal finance. At 9:00 PM/ET, "It's Your Call with Lynn Doyle" will feature a live panel discussion debating the election's hottest topics including campaign finance and a wealthy candidate's ability to serve the general public. "CN8 News" will then return live at 10:00 PM/ET for up-to-the-minute coverage and election results. Live CN8 coverage will be modified throughout the night should a concession or declaration be made prior to 11:00 PM.

"CN8 has the unique ability and flexibility to report on news that other networks simply miss," added Michael Doyle. "Political programming has been at the heart of CN8 since its inception in 1996, and we are committed to providing viewers with the local, regional, national news and analysis that matters most to their lives. We're proud to have provided some of the most in- depth coverage from Campaign 2004, and are excited to continue the tradition with this important gubernatorial race."

CN8 will also air the 30-minute interviews with Senator Corzine and Forrester as special half-hour broadcasts, back-to-back on Friday, October 28, from 9:00-10:00 PM/ET. Senator Corzine's interview will air again Sunday, October 30, at 8:30 PM/ET and Doug Forrester's interview will also air Sunday, November 6, at 8:30 PM/ET.

"Voters need information to choose wisely," said Richard R. Lau professor of political science at Rutgers University, and director of the Walt Whitman Center for the Study of Democracy at Rutgers. "Anything that can make it easier for citizens to find the information they need about the candidates running in an election is a boon for democracy. The Candidates on Demand program is particularly useful to the voters of New Jersey, as it promises to allow the candidates to describe their policies toward the major issues facing the state in their own words, in a format that most voters should find easily accessible."

All interviews and election-related specials can be accessed through the ON DEMAND menu in both the "News and World" and "Get Local" categories. The next menu choice is "CN8 Originals" and the final menu choice is "Candidates on Demand." Each candidate's interview will be listed by name.

"CN8 Presents: Candidates on Demand" will be promoted extensively through various broadcast, online and cable box messaging initiatives. Fifteen-second promotional spots will air on both CN8 and other cross-channel cable networks in the broadcast regions where the interviews will be available for viewing. Additionally, Comcast Digital Cable customers throughout most of New Jersey will receive a cable box message announcing the interviews' availability ON DEMAND.

About COMCAST

Headquartered in Philadelphia, Comcast Cable is a division of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA)(NASDAQ:CMCSK), the nation's leading provider of cable, entertainment and communications products and services. With 21.5 million cable customers, 7.4 million high-speed Internet customers and 1.2 million voice customers, Comcast is principally involved in the development, management and operation of broadband cable networks and in the delivery of programming content.

Comcast's Eastern Division serves 5.2 million customers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. The Eastern Division also founded and manages CN8, The Comcast Network, one of the nation's largest and most honored regional 24-hour diversified television networks, serving more than 7 million cable homes on the East Coast. The division is based in Oaks, PA, and employs more than 13,000 professionals.

About CN8

CN8, The Comcast Network (http://www.cn8.tv/) has quickly become one of the nation's largest and most honored regional 24-hour diversified television networks -- serving 7.1 million cable homes on the East Coast. The network provides quality, locally produced programming in four main areas: live, interactive television; regional news; entertainment; and coverage of high school, college and professional sports. CN8 has been nominated for 241 regional Emmy Awards. The Comcast Network is owned and operated by Comcast Cable Communications, Inc., a division of Comcast Corporation and the country's leading cable and broadband services provider.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010815/PHW029LOGO Source: CN8

CONTACT: Patrick MacElroy of Comcast, +1-610-650-1377; or Leslie Padilla of CN8, The Comcast Network, +1-610-650-1157

Web site: http://www.cn8.tv/ http://www.comcast.com/

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