Press Release

NEW YORK and SANTA MONICA, Calif., July 6 /PRNewswire/ -- The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE: IPG) and Liberty Livewire Corporation (Nasdaq: LWIRA) have established a strategic alliance in the field of converged television and digital technologies media. The formation of the strategic alliance was announced today by Bruce Nelson, Executive VP and Chief Marketing Officer of Interpublic, and Bill Airy, Vice President, Interactive Services, at Liberty Livewire.

The strategic alliance will be called Covered Bridges, a name signifying that it offers "safe passage" for marketers, media companies and consumers in moving from traditional mass media to emerging new media choices. Covered Bridges will aim to quickly establish a leadership position in all areas of convergent media and interactive TV, recognizing that these technological innovations can enhance programming, extend marketing and enable transactions. Its activities will include vision-building, knowledge-gathering and practical applications and will entail consumer research projects as well as interactive advertising and programming initiatives.

The Covered Bridges alliance is being launched at a time when various interactive TV programming experiments have appeared, including the following programming types: game shows, sports, news and news magazines, educational shows, and documentaries. Additionally, a recent survey sponsored by five technology companies, including Liberty Livewire, showed that the majority of Americans clearly understand what Interactive TV is and offers and say that they are keenly interested in it as a programming option.

Liberty Livewire Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, is a leading provider of television postproduction and programming distribution. In the U.S., its postproduction facilities touch a substantial portion of TV programming and advertising through an extensive client base that includes program producers, broadcast and cable networks, and advertising agencies. The new non-exclusive strategic alliance with Interpublic represents the first such effort by the company to directly collaborate with one of its advertising clients in its approach to the development of converged media. Liberty Livewire is also playing an increasing role in interactive TV development through HyperTV(R) with Livewire, its joint venture with digital media company ACTV, Inc. (Nasdaq: IATV).

The lead agency from New York-based Interpublic in this alliance will be McCann-Erickson WorldGroup and its Universal McCann media services network. Universal McCann, one of the world's largest buyers of commercial advertising time on television, has been active in exploring interactive TV through various of its operations, including UM Futures, UM Interactive, its Media in Mind(TM) research program, and its pilot involvement in multiple interactive TV experiments. Clients of McCann-Erickson WorldGroup that have already experimented with Interactive TV, with or without the agency's involvement, include Coca-Cola, Gillette, GlaxoSmithKline, General Motors, Goodyear, Johnson & Johnson, Lucent, Microsoft, Sony, Sprint and Unilever.

"Convergent TV and computer applications will inevitably emerge as one of the major available media choices in the near future. Both research and actual usage data are telling us this loud and clear," said Ira Carlin, Chairman and Worldwide CEO of Universal McCann. "However, because this is still an evolving practice, we want to become very active now in ensuring that our clients will be among the early leaders in applying these convergent technology opportunities effectively to advance their business goals. We see Liberty Livewire as an ideal ally for us because they operate at the critical postproduction juncture where decisions are made about adding value to the actual delivery of programming and advertising."

Commenting on the new strategic alliance, Mr. Airy said, "Our explicit aim is to develop commercially viable convergence opportunities for Interpublic, its agencies, and their clients by combining our production expertise with ACTV's interactive technology through HyperTV(R) with Livewire. We believe our new alliance is a concrete and significant step in this industry because it combines two leaders in their respective fields who are coming together to create opportunities that are sustainable and that add real value to marketing efforts. We look forward to working with Interpublic because they offer a wealth of expertise in understanding marketing client strategic needs, in developing TV programming, in using media for audience targeting, and in analyzing interactivity as a consumer benefit."

Kathleen Mulhern has been named Managing Director of the Covered Bridges strategic alliance. She has previously held several account positions within McCann-Erickson WorldGroup's advertising and digital agencies and has most recently been a Project Associate in McCann-Erickson's WorldGroup Ventures. She will work closely with Liberty Livewire's interactive team, headed by Mr. Airy, and with the full range of relevant Interpublic, McCann-Erickson WorldGroup and Universal McCann resources.

Liberty Livewire provides a wide range of audio and video post-production, transmission, library services, Internet hosting, and audio/video distribution services via satellite and fiber to worldwide clients in the feature film, television and advertising industries. The company has locations in the major entertainment centers, including Los Angeles, New York and London. Liberty Livewire is a majority-owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Group (NYSE: LMG.A; LMG.B), which holds interests in a broad range of programming, communications, technology and Internet businesses in the United States, Europe, South America and Asia.

The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc., is one of the largest organizations of advertising agencies and marketing services companies. In addition to McCann Erickson WorldGroup, its major worldwide companies include The Lowe Group, Draft Worldwide, Initiative Media Worldwide, Octagon, NFO WorldGroup and the Allied Communications Group. The shares of Interpublic trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: IPG).

SOURCE Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. and McCann-Erickson WorldGroup

CONTACT: Stewart Alter of McCann-Erickson WorldGroup, 212-984-3936, Stewart_Alter@mccann.com; or Sandra Mays of Liberty Livewire, 310-434-7000,