Scott M. Sassa Named President, Hearst Entertainment & Syndication, and Senior Vice President, Hearst Corporation

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - December 4, 2008) - Hearst Corporation today announced that Scott M. Sassa has been named president, Hearst Entertainment & Syndication, the operating group responsible for Hearst's interests in cable television networks, including ESPN, Lifetime, A&E and History; television production and distribution; newspaper syndication; and merchandise licensing. Sassa will also become senior vice president, Hearst Corporation. Bruce L. Paisner, who has served as executive vice president of the Group, is retiring after 27 years at Hearst and will become a consultant to the Company. The announcements were made by Frank A. Bennack, Jr., vice chairman and CEO of Hearst Corporation.

Sassa, 49, is a media industry innovator with broad digital, broadcast and print backgrounds. Prior to joining Hearst, he served as founder and CEO of Uber, a consumer Internet start-up. Sassa was a CEO-in-residence at the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers from 2005 to 2006. Previously, he served as president and CEO of Friendster, a top-50 Internet site that pioneered social networking. From 1997 to 2004, Sassa was an executive at NBC. From 1999 to 2002, he was president, NBC West Coast, responsible for overseeing all of NBC's entertainment-related businesses, and reported to NBC Chairman and CEO Bob Wright. Sassa made the transition to that position after serving as president of NBC Entertainment. During that time, he oversaw the development and production of NBC's new primetime series, including such shows as "The West Wing," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" and "Scrubs." From 1997 to 1998, Sassa served as president of the NBC Television Stations division.

Commenting on the announcement, Bennack said: "Our success with the Lifetime, A&E and History networks and the content created with partners like Disney, ABC and NBC, as well as our investment in the ESPN family of networks have all grown well beyond expectations. We are confident that Scott, who has successfully developed and led some of the entertainment industry's most recognized brands, is ideally suited to accomplish Hearst's goals moving forward in a time of media evolution."

Paisner, who turns 67 next year, is retiring after a successful tenure as vice president of Hearst Corporation and executive vice president of Hearst Entertainment & Syndication, where he oversaw the operations and served on the boards of Lifetime Television and A&E Networks. He supervised the founding of Cosmopolitan TV in 2000. Cosmopolitan TV, a 24-hour channel for young women inspired by Cosmopolitan magazine, now reaches 20 million households in Spain, Spanish-speaking Latin America and Canada. Paisner is president and CEO of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the largest organization of global broadcasters, with representatives from more than 60 countries on its Board.

"Bruce has made many contributions to the Corporation during his nearly three decades with Hearst," Bennack added. "We express our sincere appreciation for his service and are pleased that he will continue to be available to us."

Hearst's Entertainment & Syndication Group also includes Hearst Entertainment, Inc., which produces reality programming and administers distribution of Hearst's TV movie library, and King Features Syndicate, a major newspaper syndicator of comics and features that also engages extensively in merchandise licensing.

Before joining NBC, Sassa had been president and COO of Andrews Group, a unit of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, and the CEO of Marvel Entertainment. Before that, he spent nine years at Turner Broadcasting System, finishing his tenure there as president of Turner Entertainment Group and a member of the Turner Board of Directors and the TBS Executive Committee.

Sassa is widely credited with building Turner's entertainment cable channels into industry leaders, launching seven networks over a seven-year period -- including three of the top five rated basic cable networks. From 1992 to 1996, he was responsible for all operations and programming for TBS Superstation, Turner Network Television, Cartoon Network, Turner Classic Movies and Turner's international entertainment networks in Europe, Asia and Latin America. In 1988, Sassa was named executive vice president of Turner Network Television, where he was instrumental in the network's launch, the largest at that time.

Hearst Corporation is one of the nation's largest diversified media companies. Its major interests include ownership of 16 daily and 49 weekly newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle and Albany Times Union; as well as interests in an additional 43 daily and 72 non-daily newspapers owned by MediaNews Group, which include the Denver Post and Salt Lake Tribune; nearly 200 magazines around the world, including Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan and O, The Oprah Magazine; 29 television stations through Hearst-Argyle Television (NYSE: HTV), which reach a combined 18% of U.S. viewers; ownership in leading cable networks, including Lifetime, A&E, History and ESPN; as well as business publishing, including a minority joint venture interest in Fitch Ratings; Internet businesses, television production, newspaper features distribution and real estate.

Contact Information: Media Contact: Paul J. Luthringer Hearst Corporation 212-649-2540 pluthringer@hearst.com