NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC FILM LIBRARY TO HAVE LOCAL PRESENCE IN ASIA-PACIFIC TERRITORY

National Geographic has signed the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) to represent its interests in the Asia-Pacific region, it was announced today by Matthew White, vice president, Film Library for National Geographic Television & Film (NGT&F). The arrangement seeks to expand the potential customer base of National Geographic's extensive archive of film footage by leveraging ABU's existing client base and creating a local presence within India, Japan, Korea, China and Southeast Asia.

"Over the past few years, we've seen a great deal of interest in our film library rising from the Asia-Pacific marketplace," said White. "We felt it was important to have someone representing our interests there locally, to provide customers greater access to our material and to increase awareness of our capabilities within Japan and its neighboring countries."

National Geographic footage covers a variety of subjects including science and archaeology; adventure and exploration; peoples and cultures; and nature and wildlife. In addition to nearly 40 years of footage from NGT&F, the Film Library also represents and/or manages the film libraries of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in the U.K. and the World Bank worldwide. Footage will be marketed for educational and commercial use in news and commercial productions, corporate marketing, broadcast and new media programming, digital presentations or consumer promotions.

National Geographic's ABU representative will be based in Kuala Lumpur, where he will liaise with National Geographic Film Library headquarters in Washington, DC to obtain footage and fulfill orders. Licensees and potential partners can contact Craig Hobbs at (60-3) 2282-2480 ext. 226 or craig.h@abu.org.my to order footage and discuss collaborations.

In addition to relying on on-site representatives to interact with clients, the Film Library has recently upgraded its business-to-business Web site at www.ngtlibrary.com to create better functionality for its users. The new Web site now allows customers to search by streaming video and metadata - a process that increases the library's searchable archives from 100,000 clips to nearly 200,000. Customers can continue to review streaming video selections online or request online or videocassette clips of metadata files. National Geographic has also launched the Idea Gallery, featuring some of National Geographic's most compelling footage. Clips are displayed by categories and subcategories that range from people and culture to oddities and curiosities, and are designed to inspire producers and encourage creative use of National Geographic footage. Finally, National Geographic has created a "My Projects" area, which allows users to save clips to project bins, enabling them to share their ideas with colleagues, save searches they can return to at a later date and initiate the rights clearance process.

National Geographic's Film Library functions as an archive and repository for all NGT&F-produced film and videotape material. The Library catalogues and sells stock footage from NGT&F's Specials, EXPLORER series, educational films, and other National Geographic Channel and NGT&F productions. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Film Library supplies material to a satellite office in London and representatives across the globe. Its fully catalogued database, available online at www.ngtlibrary.com, allows clients to search footage based on subject, location or production criteria.

About National Geographic Television & Film

Building on its global reputation for remarkable visuals and compelling stories, National Geographic Television & Film augments its award-winning documentary productions (122 Emmy Awards and more than 800 other industry awards) with feature films, large-format films and long-form television drama programming. Worldwide, National Geographic's television programming can be seen on the National Geographic Channel, MSNBC, and PBS, home video and DVD, and through international broadcast syndication. The National Geographic Channel is received by more than 200 million households in 25 languages in 146 countries, including the United States. For more information about National Geographic Television & Film, log on to nationalgeographic.com, AOL Keyword: NatGeo.

Elizabeth Nickless (202) 775-6163 enickles@ngs.org