CBS To Form Joint Venture With Mexico's Medcom to Own and Operate CBS Telenoticias.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 24, 1998--CBS and Grupo Medcom, S.A., a privately held media company based in Mexico City, have signed a definitive agreement to form a joint venture that will own and operate CBS TeleNoticias, CBS's Spanish and Portuguese language news channels serving Latin America and the United States. This announcement was made today by Mel Karmazin, President and Chief Operating Officer, CBS, and Clemente Serna Alvear, Chairman of the Board and President, Grupo Medcom.

Under the terms of the joint venture agreement, Grupo Medcom will own 70% of CBS TeleNoticias and will become the managing partner of the joint venture, which will retain the name CBS TeleNoticias. CBS will retain 30% and will continue to provide newsgathering resources and programming. The joint venture will be overseen by an Executive Board with representatives from Grupo Medcom and CBS. The transaction is expected to close during the fourth quarter of this year.

According to Karmazin, the joint venture will provide CBS TeleNoticias with a strategic partner with resources to significantly expand the networks' growth and international distribution. At the same time, the partnership maintains CBS TeleNoticias' respected newsgathering organization, adhering to CBS News policies and standards, and provides Latin American distribution for CBS News programming.

"This action will position CBS to capitalize on the future expansion of cable in Latin America," Karmazin added, "and increase the long-term value of CBS TeleNoticias as well as our CBS Cable group."

"Medcom's partnership with CBS is a strategic move in expanding our participation in the distribution of high quality news programming, under the CBS brand, which is highly regarded throughout Latin America," said Medcom's Serna. "In addition, this move marks Medcom's media expansion throughout Latin America as well as the company's entry into the United States market and the Iberian Pennisula." Serna noted that Medcom has, in the past, distributed CBS Radio programming on its Mexican radio stations.

This is the second strategic partnership in its cable businesses that CBS has announced in recent months. In late July, CBS signed a letter of intent to form a 50-50 joint venture with Discovery Communications to operate CBS Eye On People, a cable network focused on people and personalities.

"Don Mitzner and the CBS Cable team as well as Andrew Heyward and the CBS News staff have done an excellent job in building the foundations of these networks," said Karmazin. "And with the additional financial and creative resources that qualified strategic partners bring - access to markets, incremental distribution, expanded programming and talent - we are strengthening these networks to grow to profitability at an accelerated rate in a highly competitive marketplace."

Francisco De La Torre, who has been President, CBS TeleNoticias, since 1995 and who played a key role in developing CBS TeleNoticias' expansion and growth strategies, will remain as President of the joint venture.

Grupo Medcom, which has media interests in print, radio, television, and Internet, operates Infored, a newsgathering company that produces MONITOR, Mexico's leading radio news program for the past 25 years. Grupo Expansion, a wholly owned subsidiary of Medcom, is the leading publisher of business magazines in Mexico and is expanding its distribution into the rest of Latin America. Grupo Medcom's SuperRed unit is Mexico's leading company promoting point-of-sale, including store displays as well as music stations and visual broadcasts distributed via satellite to stores. The company also owns an interest in Guadalajara's Channel 5 television station.