Cox Communications and the New Orleans Saints Announce Multi-Year Telecommunications & Entertainment Partnership

Cox Communications and the New Orleans Saints Announce Multi-Year Telecommunications & Entertainment Partnership

 NEW ORLEANS, May 19 /PRNewswire/ --                             Highlights include:   - Multi-Platform Agreement Will Deliver Exclusive Saints Programs to Cox                 Customers On-Demand and Online at Cox.net  - Saints Consolidate their Video, Internet and Telephone Services with New                         Orleans's Leading Bundler   

-Cox Sports Television Enhanced with Exclusive Saints Content; Customers of

CST Affiliates Across the Gulf South Region Benefit from new Programming

New Orleans Saints Owner/Executive Vice President Rita Benson and Cox Communications New Orleans Senior Vice President and General Manager Greg Bicket announced today a long term agreement whereby the New Orleans-based broadband telecommunications company becomes the Saints' "Exclusive Telecommunications Provider" through March, 2011. The multi-faceted agreement showcases the broad array of Cox's services across Saints' promotional vehicles and at Saints' Training camp in Metairie, La., which will exclusively use Cox Digital Cable, Cox High-Speed Internet and Cox Digital Telephone. The agreement also enables Cox-owned regional sports network, CST (Cox Sports Television), to continue carrying Saints pre-season games, coach's shows, post game highlight shows, weekly press conferences, magazine shows, Saintsations cheerleader specials and the "Black-Gold" scrimmage. CST will continue to be "The Exclusive Regional Sports Network Home" of the New Orleans Saints, and Cox Communications is designated a "Patron Saints Partner" through the term of the agreement.

"We are very excited to continue and expand our relationships with Cox Communications and CST," stated Benson. "Cox delivers great service to our operations in Metairie, and their customers across Louisiana and the Florida panhandle. In Post-Katrina New Orleans we all learned a great deal about the character of each other's organizations; we know that we can trust Cox Communications as our service provider and the distributor of content Saints fans love."

Both the Saints and Cox will promote each other across a variety of outlets. Cox will showcase the Saints through its website, billing messages, customer newsletters, cross channel public service announcements as well as billboard and radio messaging. Saints fans attending home games in the Louisiana Super Dome will see Cox Communications signage outside the Dome as well as Cox messaging on the score board, the game day program and the Saints' website. Cox systems in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Pensacola and Ft. Walton Beach will enjoy the use of the Saints mark and logo in marketing and promotions throughout the term.

CST will continue to be the home for year-round Saints programming. CST will televise a minimum of three live Saints pre-season games, the Black and Gold Scrimmage, The Sean Payton weekly press conference; weekly Saints in the community shows ("Outside the Huddle"), Saints post game shows ("Saints Tonight"), and the Saintsations Swimsuit Calendar Show. CST will broadcast many of the Saints games and specials in High Definition and much of the Saints programming will be found on the CST Video on Demand service "CST Now!." The CST network is now available to nearly 2 million households across the South. The Saints and Cox Communications express their commitment to producing new Saints programming that will be available across all Cox platforms including CST and Video on Demand.

"We are proud to see our Cox services showcased by the Saints who are part of the heart and soul of New Orleans," stated Bicket. "Cox Communications and the Saints share a great passion for our city and the areas we serve. I know this partnership will continue to grow for many years to come and that our ongoing association with the Saints will be a huge benefit to Cox's customers and Saints fans across the panhandle."

About Cox Communications (www.cox.com/louisiana)

Cox Communications, a Fortune 500 company, is a multi-service broadband communications and entertainment company with more than 5.9 million total residential and commercial customers. Cox offers an array of advanced digital video, high-speed Internet and telephony services over its own nationwide IP network. Cox Business Services is a full-service, facilities-based provider of communications solutions for commercial customers, providing high-speed Internet, voice and long-distance services, as well as data and video transport services for small to large-sized businesses. Cox Media offers national and local cable advertising in traditional spot and new media formats, along with promotional opportunities and production services. More information about the services of Cox Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, is available at www.cox.com, www.coxbusiness.com, and www.coxmedia.com

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Cox Communications

CONTACT: Rod Mickler, Vice President of Cox Sports Television,
+1-504-304-8112, rod.mickler@cox.com, or Brad Grundmeyer of Cox Communications
New Orleans, +1-504-304-8153, brad.grundmeyer@cox.com, or David Grabert of Cox
Communications Corporate, +1-404-269-7054, david.grabert@cox.com, or
Greg Bensel of New Orleans Saints, +1-504-731-1794, benselg@saints.nfl.com

Web site: http://www.cox.com/
http://www.coxbusiness.com/
http://www.coxmedia.com/
http://www.cox.com/louisiana

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Profile: International Entertainment