CONTACT: Thomas Dima 212.459.1605 thomas@cablepositive.org

TV CARES HONORS CABLE TELEVISION WITH THE THREE RIBBON OF HOPE AWARDS FOR OUTSTANDING HIV/AIDS AWARENESS PROGRAMMING

Cable Positive, HBO's Sex And The City and Playboy Enterprises to be Honored

NEW YORK, NY - March 28, 2001
TV CARES, the AIDS Awareness Committee of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, will recognize Cable Positive, HBO's Sex And The City and Playboy Enterprises with the Ribbon of Hope Award for their outstanding commitment to AIDS awareness programming. A ceremony will be held on March 31 in Los Angeles at the Leonard H. Goldensen Theater at the Academy beginning at 7:30 p.m. Scheduled to appear at this year's ceremony are VIP's Pamela Anderson, Playboy's Hugh Hefner and Kim Catrall and Darren Star from HBO's Sex And The City.

"This is a bold recognition by TV CARES that cable is providing information relevant to people's lives about the greatest public health crisis in history -- AIDS," said Steve Villano, Cable Positive Executive Director. "With these prestigious awards, the Academy is recognizing cable television's enormous power for doing good and our willingness to create, produce and deliver messages concerning HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention."

For the first time in TV CARES history, cable television will receive three Ribbon of Hope Awards -- the most ever for cable programming - and one more than network television, which will receive 2 awards.

Cable Positive, the cable industry's HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention organization, will be honored for its body of work in producing and distributing public service announcements (PSAs) through the cable industry in support of National HIV Testing Day (June 27) and World AIDS Day (December 1) to reach the more than 70 million cable households. HBO's Sex And The City will be recognized for an episode of the series where Kim Catrall's character Samantha Jones takes an HIV/AIDS test. Hugh Hefner and Playboy Enterprises will be acknowledged for their continued and constant promotion of safe sex on the Playboy Channel. NBC's The West Wing and CBS's 60 Minutes II will be honored for their programs focusing on AIDS in Africa. Comedy writer Bruce Vilanch and author Joel Rothschild will also be recognized for their efforts on behalf of AIDS awareness.

TV CARES was founded in 1996 by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to bring light to outstanding programming in the area of AIDS awareness. There are no paid employees at TV CARES and every volunteer is dedicated to the primary mission of promoting and encouraging responsible programming in the area of AIDS awareness and education. Previous winners of the Ribbon of Hope Award include: Dick Clark, Sharon Stone, Jeffrey Katzenberg, MTV Networks, 20/20, The AIDS Memorial Quilt Leeza Gibbons, Showtime and ER.

Cable Positive is a national non profit organization that was founded in February 1992 by three concerned cable executives with the mission of organizing cable's resources in the fight against AIDS. Cable Positive is dedicated to unifying the talents, resources, access and influence of the cable industry to raise AIDS awareness; to fund AIDS education, research and care; and to promote a more compassionate climate for people whose lives have been affected by HIV and AIDS. Cable Positive has grown to include supporters from every major cable network, MSO, system, hardware manufacturer, trade association, media publication, and affiliated industry vendors and suppliers. A Board of Directors and over 60 Honorary Chairs (who include the presidents and CEOs of major industry companies) manage Cable Positive. For more information about Cable Positive, call 212.459.1502 or visit www.cablepositive.org.