Comcast and Rentrak to Trial Video on Demand Measurement System PORTLAND, Ore., and PHILADELPHIA, March 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Comcast, the country's leading cable and broadband communications provider, and Rentrak Corporation today announced an agreement to conduct a trial of VOD Essentials(TM), a system created by Rentrak that measures and reports anonymous video-on-demand (VOD) usage data. The trial is scheduled to begin in May in the Philadelphia area. VOD Essentials will deliver an in-depth analysis of aggregate VOD viewership data that will help multiple system operators (MSOs) and programmers analyze data to better understand viewer preferences for on-demand content. "As video on demand continues to experience tremendous growth, we recognize the importance of accurately measuring viewership, and this trial is the first step toward that goal," said Page Thompson, Vice President, Marketing, New Video Products for Comcast. "We're looking forward to working with our content partners and Rentrak to develop standardized reporting metrics that will provide valuable data to operators and programmers." Added Ken Papagan, Executive Vice President, New Business Development and Strategic Planning at Rentrak, "Comcast's foresight to recognize an industry need to capture and analyze VOD content performance data, at a market-to-market level, is another indicator of Comcast's consistent leadership within the cable industry. We are very pleased that Comcast selected Rentrak and VOD Essentials to participate in this very important trial that will help pave the way toward more efficient and accurate VOD usage measurement." Comcast's ON DEMAND VOD service currently is available to approximately 50 percent of the company's customers. Offering customers more than 1,800 programming choices, including shows from leading cable and broadcast networks as well as movie and premium provider content, the service is expected to be available to 80 percent of Comcast's customers by year-end 2004. About Comcast Headquartered in Philadelphia, Comcast Cable is a division of Comcast Corporation, a developer, manager and operator of broadband cable networks and provider of programming content. With a presence in 22 of the top 25 United States markets, Comcast is one of the leading communications, media and entertainment companies in the world. Providing basic cable, Digital Cable, high-speed Internet and telephone services, Comcast is the company to look to first for the communications products and services that connect people to what's important in their lives. The company's 59,000 employees serve more than 21 million customers. About Rentrak Corporation Rentrak Corporation, a Portland, Oregon-based information management and business intelligence company, is the developer of the Essentials(tm) suite of information management products that are used by clients in the media, entertainment, retail and manufacturing industries. Through the specialized vertical market editions of the Essentials web-based applications that are customized to the needs of each licensee, marketers are able to collect, manage and analyze detailed point-of-sale and supply chain data on a real-time basis. The Essentials(TM) suite of services offers bottom-line enhancing and competitive advantages to executives by providing timely and actionable insight into both their own company's performance, as well as perspective from access to aggregated industry-wide data. For further information, please refer to Rentrak's corporate Web site at http://www.rentrak.com/ . Press Contacts Rentrak Sallie Olmsted 310-201-8824 Comcast Jenni Moyer 215-851-3311 DATASOURCE: Rentrak Corporation CONTACT: Sallie Olmsted, +1-310-201-8824, for Rentrak; orJenni Moyer, +1-215-851-3311, for Comcast Web site: http://www.rentrak.com/

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