Showtime Joins Forces With Strikeforce

For All-New Live MMA Series

Series Debut Scheduled for Saturday, April 11, 2009 on SHOWTIME

NEW YORK (February 5, 2009)—Showtime Networks Inc. and World championship mixed martial arts

(MMA) event producer Strikeforce have joined forces to create an all-new series of MMA events that will air

live on SHOWTIME® as part of the SHOWTIME Sports franchise.  The news was jointly announced today

by Ken Hershman, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Sports and Event Programming, Showtime

Networks, and Strikeforce Founder and CEO Scott Coker.

The multi-year agreement calls for SHOWTIME to produce and televise up to 16 live events per year

including Strikeforce world championship events as well as a series dedicated to showcasing up-and-coming

fighters in the sport. The initial championship event is schedule for Saturday, April 11, 2009 at the HP

Pavilion in San Jose, Calif.  The fight card will be announced at a later date.

“We are very excited to have the opportunity to deliver live Strikeforce events on the SHOWTIME premium

television platform,” said Coker. 

“SHOWTIME is a forward-thinking innovator with a reputation for producing outstanding original programming

in sports and entertainment.  They have been a phenomenal partner in the past and we are looking forward

to growing our relationship with them and bringing the Strikeforce brand of MMA to millions of SHOWTIME

subscribers.”

“Strikeforce has a history of presenting high-quality, compelling mixed martial arts events and we are thrilled

to be able to bring their world-class events to our subscribers,” said Hershman.

Hershman was responsible for pioneering the network’s entry into MMA in 2007, when SHOWTIME became

the first premium network to televise the explosive sport.

He continued, “This relationship with Strikeforce will allow SHOWTIME to continue to deliver some of the

best MMA match-ups in the rapidly growing sport as well as to expose the future champions of MMA to our

audience.”

The agreement reunites SHOWTIME and Strikeforce following their successful “Shamrock vs. Baroni” event,

presented by SHOWTIME PPV® in 2007. In the main event, former UFC middleweight champion and MMA

legend, Frank Shamrock, submitted knockout artist, Phil “The New York Badass” Baroni, in the second

round of action whereby Shamrock became the first-ever Strikeforce World Middleweight Champion.

The historic event was followed up with a live SHOWTIME telecast of one of the sport’s most anticipated

showdowns of all-time—Shamrock versus undefeated world kickboxing champion Cung Le—on March 29,

2008.  In a battle that has since been proclaimed “Fight Of The Year” by industry experts and critics, Le

seized the Strikeforce middleweight crown by pouring on a relentless offensive and fending off Shamrock’s

counter attacks before breaking the defending champion’s arm with a hard roundhouse kick and forcing

Shamrock to retire from the bout between rounds three and four.

A martial arts promoter of over 23 years, Coker has gained widespread acclaim amongst industry

colleagues and the media, including Rolling Stone magazine, Yahoo! Sports, and The San Jose Mercury

News, for positioning his 14-year-old Strikeforce organization as a major player in the world’s fastest growing

sport since its inaugural MMA event that hosted a capacity crowd of 18,265 at San Jose’s HP Pavilion on

March 10, 2006.  The live gate figure also broke the then-all-time record for attendance at an MMA event held

in North America.

About Strikeforce

Strikeforce is a world-class mixed martial arts cage fight promotion which, on Friday, March 10, 2006, made

history with its “Shamrock vs. Gracie” event, the first sanctioned mixed martial arts fight card in California

state history. The star-studded extravaganza, which pitted legendary champion Frank Shamrock against

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cesar Gracie at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, played host to a sold-out, record

crowd of 18,265. Since 1995, Strikeforce has been the exclusive provider of martial arts programming for

ESPN and, after 12 years of success as a leading, world championship kickboxing promotion, the company

unveiled its mixed martial arts series with “Shamrock vs. Gracie.” Since then, it has co-produced the first

SHOWTIME PPV mixed martial arts event in history with its world championship “Shamrock vs. Baroni”

card on June 22nd of this year followed by the first-ever mixed martial arts event at the world-famous Playboy

Mansion on September 29th.

About Showtime Networks Inc.

Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the

premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL® and FLIX®, as well as the multiplex

channels SHOWTIME 2™, SHOWTIME® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®, SHOWTIME BEYOND®,

SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®, SHOWTIME FAMILY ZONE® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL®

XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL® HD, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND® and

THE MOVIE CHANNEL® ON DEMAND. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture between

SNI and the Smithsonian Institution. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI

markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis

through SHOWTIME PPV®.

Media Contacts:

Strikeforce: Mike Afromowitz - mafromowitz@strikeforce.com

Showtime Networks Inc.: Chris DeBlasio - chris.deblasio@showtime.net

- From Showtime with a little editing from us (color, etc...)

Subject to change

(2/5/09)