CanWest Statement on NetStar.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 5, 1999--CanWest Global(TSE:CGS.A.) (TSE:CGS.S.) (NYSE:CWG) In response to CTV's news release regarding NetStar, CanWest Global confirms that negotiations between it and ESPN-Disney to obtain ESPN's consent for the transfer of 68 percent of NetStar to CanWest, were terminated earlier today.

If the transaction with CTV closes, the selling shareholders must pay CanWest a $15 million break fee as compensation.

Leonard Asper, CanWest's Chief Operating Officer said: "We negotiated with ESPN to obtain their consent, but just as was the case in August of last year, when we broke off negotiations with NetStar, ESPN's conditions were too onerous, and accepting them was not in our shareholders' best interests. Also, they were such that we were not prepared to bring them forward to the CRTC because there was a concern that it gave negative control to a foreign controlled company, in contravention of the Broadcasting Act."

I.H. Asper, O.C., Q.C., LL.D., CanWest's Executive Chairman, pointed out that when the original purchase announcement was made, he had made it clear that CanWest would not improve its offer, but would be content to take the $15 million fee and continue to seek other development opportunities both in Canada and abroad.

"CanWest has always prided itself on having the discipline to walk away from a transaction, however appealing, when the conditions imposed impair the fundamental quality of the deal. That's what happened here," he said. "If ESPN-Disney does not close the deal with CTV, or the CRTC, or the Federal Competition Bureau rejects this deal, CanWest would be happy to complete the purchase on the basis agreed to by the Canadian shareholders of NetStar."

CanWest Global Communications Corp. (NYSE: CWG and TSE: CGS.S and CGS.A) is an international media company. In Canada, CanWest owns and operates the Global Television Network and Global Prime Cable Network, as well as CanWest Entertainment, whose principal operation is Fireworks Entertainment Inc., a production and distribution company. Internationally, CanWest owns and operates New Zealand's TV3 and TV4 Television Networks and the More FM Radio Network. The Company also has significant investments in Canada's WIC Western International Communications Ltd., Australia's TEN Television Network, the Republic of Ireland's new TV3 Television Network, and Northern Ireland's Ulster Television.