UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif., Feb. 22 — Columbia TriStar Home Video (CTHV) and Universal Studios Home Video (USHV)today jointly announced the signing of a DVD distribution agreement outside North America for USHV DVD product.

The agreement between USHV and CTHV represents a
milestone in the international expansion of DVD. CTHV, the first major
Hollywood studio to
release films on the DVD format outside the United
States (i.e., in Europe, Latin America and Japan), is joined by USHV as one
of the few major studios
releasing its movies on a consistent basis
internationally.

“Without the early commitment of CTHV, USHV, and
Warner Home Video, the home video industry in North America would not be
experiencing the
exponential growth of this new exciting format. We
hope that the USHV/CTHV announcement will foreshadow the entry of other
studios into the
international market as quickly as possible,” said
Benjamin S. Feingold, President of CTHV. “The availability of new films from
Universal and one of the
best catalogs in our industry will stimulate future
sales of DVD machines and software purchases for rental and sale,” added Mr.
Feingold.

“We are happy to be partnering with CTHV as both
companies share a high level of commitment to the format. We think this
arrangement will significantly
facilitate the rapid growth of the format outside
North America,” added Bill Clark, Executive Vice President and Chief
Operating Officer of Universal
Studios Home Video. “Whenever possible, Matsushita
Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic) will continue to provide worldwide
authoring, compression,
mastering and replication services for Universal
titles.”

Both USHV and CTHV have agreed that wherever possible,
new release product will be day and date with VHS rental and VHS
direct-to-sell through
and that catalog titles will be released at the
earliest possible moment to build a successful international DVD business.

The agreement includes such DVD titles as the recent
theatrical hits “Patch Adams” and “Shakespeare in Love,” as well as other
prominent Universal titles,
such as “Out of Sight,” “Apollo 13,” “Daylight,” “Liar
Liar,” “The Nutty Professor,” and “Dante’s Peak.” Additional titles include
“Psycho,” “Meet Joe
Black,” and the original “Babe.”