TAKE THE TEST, TAKE CONTROL' NATIONAL HIV TESTING DAY IS JUNE 27

CONTACT: Nancy Schadoff 212.459.1505 nancy@cablepositive.org

Cable Industry Unites to Support Public Awareness Campaign

NEW YORK, NY- June 20, 2000
With just one week to go until National HIV Testing Day (NHTD), Tuesday, June 27, Cable Positive, the cable and communications industry's AIDS action organization, announced that the industry has surpassed last year's commitment for the public awareness campaign. The month-long June campaign focuses on improving the health of people living with HIV, promoting HIV testing, and encouraging people to learn their HIV status and take control of their health and lives.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that between 650,000 and 900,000 Americans are infected with HIV. Nearly 250,000 Americans do not know they are infected, and may continue to engage in behavior that could jeopardize their health, and the health of others. The campaign promotes awareness of HIV risk and to encourage voluntary counseling and testing to at risk populations including African-Americans, Latinos, women at risk of infections, young people and gay/bisexual men. As a national sponsor of the campaign, Cable Positive partnered with the National Association of People With AIDS (NAPWA) to create the marketing materials, including HIV/AIDS fact sheets, and posters for the campaign.

Cable networks and systems, representing more than 70 million households, have committed to telecasting PSAs and programming to encourage HIV testing throughout the month of June. AIDS-related programming includes: Cooking Live segment on The Food Network; Women and Children First, Ask the Family Doctor and Cutting Edge segments on The Health Network; the films Finding North, The Dadshuttle and Paul Monette: The Brink of Summer's End on the Sundance Channel.

Cable Positive released public service announcement (PSA) Reel #10 in conjunction with NHTD. The reel contains 20 different PSAs, including national and generic spots, with several bilingual versions in Spanish and English. Celebrities lending their support to the campaign include Billy Bob Thornton and Poet Maya Angelou, and Joey McEntyre, Monica and N'SYNC compliments of LifeBeat, the recording industry's AIDS action organization.

NATIONAL HIV TESTING DAY IS JUNE 27

"The cable industry is in a unique position to utilize its resources, and help prevent the spread of HIV infection, encourage HIV testing, and raise awareness about the AIDS crisis," said Steve Villano, executive director, Cable Positive. "While there is still neither a cure nor a vaccine, people living with HIV have more health care options than ever before. Far too many people, however, learn their HIV status late in their infection, missing years of opportunity for early care and treatment. That is why taking the test is one way to take control over your life."

Please call Clarice Astorga at 212.459.1547 to request copies of PSA Reel #10 and NHTD marketing materials and posters. For information about HIV testing, contact the National AIDS Hotline at 1-800-342-AIDS.

Cable Positive, founded in 1992, is a non-profit organization dedicated to unifying the talents, resources, access and influence of the communications 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. For more information, call 212.459.1502 or visit www.cablepositive.org.