Adelphia, Charter, Comcast, Staten Island Cable, Susquehanna Communications and Time Warner Team Up With ESPN to Award Scholarships.

Business Editors & Lifestyle Writers

BRISTOL, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 15, 2000

Semi-finalists To Demonstrate Math and Physics Skills in

First-of-Its-Kind Cable in the Classroom Initiative;

What do Math and Physics Have to do With Sports? Everything!

Eight high school students from throughout the United States have been named national semi-finalist winners in the ESPN SportsFigures "Knowledge For College Challenge." (http://sportsfigures.espn.go.com/)

Andrew Treglia of Staten Island, N.Y.; Carrie Rust of Hockessin, Del.; Nina Tioleco of Granada Hills, Calif.; Kyle Flater of Eau Claire, Wis.; Jacob Thomas of Bradenton, Fla.; Ashley Joseph of Shreveport, La.; Per Ostman of York, Pa.; and Nick Rudolph of Hanover, Pa. will all receive a $1000 scholarship and are now participating in the second phase of the challenge.

The Challenge asked high school students to demonstrate an understanding of how math and physics are a critical part of all sports by completing a multiple choice exam consisting of 11 questions based on math and physics. More than 120 cable systems participated inviting more than 1,600 high schools to offer the Challenge to their students.

Cable operators throughout the United States participated in this unique Challenge with the eight semi-finalists coming from: Adelphia in Southern California; Charter in Wisconsin and Kansas; Comcast of Delaware and Northern Florida; Susquehanna Communications of Pennsylvania; Time Warner of Shreveport, LA; and Staten Island Cable in New York.

Each cable operator and ESPN have teamed up to institute this innovative educational effort, based on the popular ESPN SportsFigures commercial-free weekly series. Together, the companies are offering scholarships to the winners and media equipment to their schools.

"This is all about our local cable affiliate who joins us in supporting dynamic Cable in the Classroom programming that bring fun, educational resources to their local community," said Sean Bratches, senior vice president of Affiliate Sales and Marketing. "Rewarding students in this creative challenge is just another example of the great public/private partnership cable offers."

Currently the semi-finalists are completing the essay portion of the Challenge -- creating a new sport and using math and physics to explain it. With their completed submission, he/she will either be selected as a First Prize winner or the Grand Prize winner. Seven First Prize winners will receive a $2,500 scholarship as well as $1,000 in new media equipment for their school.

One of the semi-finalists will be chosen as the Grand Prize $10,000 scholarship winner and their school will also receive $5,000 worth of new media equipment. One teacher has been randomly selected from the participating schools to win a trip to the Disney Institute. In addition, one teacher has been randomly selected from the participating schools to win $5,000 worth of media equipment.

These awards are an extension of cable operators continuing efforts to bring innovative Cable in the Classroom programs to local schools.

ESPN SportsFigures, presented weekly during the school year and commercial-free on ESPN2, uses sports and athletes to demonstrate math and physics concepts to high school students. Designed as a teaching tool, and used by high school teachers (grades 9-12), the program airs Mondays at 5:30 a.m. Among top athletes who have appeared on SportsFigures are Derek Jeter, Tiger Woods, Julie Foudy and Steve Young.

Cable in the Classroom, a non-profit service of the cable industry supported by 41 national cable networks and more than 8,500 cable companies, provides schools with more than $2 million of educational resources every week. Free cable connections and 540 hours per month of commercial-free educational programming are made available to schools across the country.

About ESPN

Based in Bristol, ESPN Inc., the Worldwide Leader in Sports, is 80 percent owned by ABC Inc., which is an indirect subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. The Hearst Corp. holds a 20 percent interest in ESPN. ESPN Inc. includes six domestic television networks (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPNEWS, ESPN Extra, ESPN Now), ESPN International (20 international networks and syndication), ESPN Radio, ESPN.com, ESPN the Magazine, ESPN Regional Television, SportsTicker and ESPN Enterprises, overseeing brand extensions such as ESPN Zone, pay subscription packages and consumer products.