AST, Mountain Dew and NBC Announce Expansion Into Winter

AST, Mountain Dew and NBC Announce Expansion Into Winter

AST Winter Dew Tour Will Launch In December 2008

NEW YORK, Sept. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The AST (Action Sports Tour), the recently launched umbrella brand and organization for the Dew Tour, today announced the expansion of a winter action sports series with title sponsor Mountain Dew. The AST Winter Dew Tour is set to launch with a series of three events beginning in December of 2008 and continuing into January and February 2009. The Winter Tour will feature both freeskiing and snowboarding disciplines for both men and women.

"We couldn't be more excited about the AST Dew Tour's expansion into winter sports and the opportunity to continue to build this property with our partner Mountain Dew," said Wade Martin, President of the AST Dew Tour. "The move into winter extends the AST into a year-long platform and is consistent with our founding vision of providing greater continuity, context and infrastructure to action sports through the pro tour."

"We're happy to be stepping up our commitment to the Dew Tour, and we look forward to being part of the largest, most comprehensive action sports tour in the world," said Ralph Santana, Pepsi VP Sports, Media and Interactive Marketing. "As a company, we've been fans and strong supporters of action sports for decades, and the Dew Tour expansion is a great way to support more athletes, deliver more for the fans and generate more exposure for our brands."

The AST Winter Dew Tour will be a seamless extension of the successful summer Tour and will include the following key components:

   -- Host venues:  The AST will be conducting site visits around North      America and a formal RFP process over the next several months to      determine the three host mountain resorts for the AST Winter Dew Tour.      The three host resorts will be confirmed by first quarter 2008.  The      five-city AST Summer Dew Tour has over 250,000 spectators per year.    -- Media Programming & Distribution:  The Winter Dew Tour will follow a      similar media-programming model as the summer Dew Tour, which is the      most watched action sports property globally with an average of 39      million domestic U.S. viewers each year between NBC Sports and the USA      Network. The summer Dew Tour also has distribution partnerships with      NBC's Universal HD, Fox's Fuel and Viacom's MTV2 Network.  In addition,      the summer Dew Tour is distributed in over 100 countries and available      in 230 million homes worldwide with partners such as Eurosport, Fox      Sports International, Extreme Channel and Fox Sports Australia, as well      as on a variety of new media platforms including Broadband,      Video-on-Demand and Verizon Wireless.    -- Sponsorship:  Mountain Dew will be title sponsor of the new three-event      winter series. In addition, the AST will sell event titles for each      stop, along with associate and supplier packages for the entire tour.      Similar to the summer Dew Tour, all sponsors will receive integrated      benefits across platforms including TV, on-site, mobile and online, as      well as through the tour's extensive marketing campaign.    -- Competitions:  Following the format of the summer Tour, the Winter Dew      Tour will be based on a cumulative points system with a Dew Cup      champion crowned in each discipline at the conclusion of the final      stop. The Winter Dew Tour will feature both freeskiing and      snowboarding. Potential male and female disciplines include superpipe,      slopestyle, and cross events.    

Mountain Dew remains the title sponsor of AST's summer Dew Tour, which is currently in its third year and includes five stops from June through October and features six disciplines: skateboard (park and vert), BMX (park, vert, and dirt) and freestyle motocross.

The AST Dew Tour

The AST (Action Sports Tour) was created in 2007 to function as the umbrella brand of the organization; the Dew Tour is the AST's premier professional property. Owned by NBC Universal and Live Nation, the AST Dew Tour, the world's premier season-long action sports tour, debuted in June 2005 and consists of five major, multi-sport events with a cumulative points system, a $2.5 million competitive purse -- the largest in action sports -- and an additional $1 million bonus pool based upon year-end standings. NBC and USA Network combine for exclusive AST Dew Tour coverage with the largest combined network and cable commitment in action sports. The AST Dew Tour is distributed in over 230 million homes worldwide and in over 100 countries. The Tour features skateboarding (park and vert), BMX (park, vert, and dirt) and freestyle motocross, and at seasons' end, the Tour awards champions in the six disciplines with the Dew Cup. Key lifestyle elements at each Tour event include the festival village with video gaming and interactive events, as well as live cutting edge music. The AST Dew Tour returns all of its founding partners including Mountain Dew (tour title sponsor); and Panasonic, Right Guard Xtreme, Vans(R), Toyota and PlayStation(R) (event title sponsors). Associate partners include Ball Park, MasterCard, Mongoose(R), Slim Jim and Verizon Wireless. More information can be found at http://www.astdewtour.com/.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Action Sports Tour

CONTACT: BJ Carretta, +1-630-566-6296, bjcarretta@ASTdewtour.com, or
Nicole Mancuso, +1-630-566-6351, nicolemancuso@ASTdewtour.com, both for Action
Sports Tour

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

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Profile: International Entertainment