NEW YORK, MAY 5, 2005 – A&E Network’s new public outreach campaign, Lives That Make a Difference™, is working with the Partnership for a Drug-Free America® on a collaborative campaign to advance and promote interventions as a first step toward treatment for those with substance abuse addiction, it was announced today by Dr. Libby O’Connell, SVP, Corporate Outreach, A&E Network. 

A&E Network will feature the Partnership’s Hope, Help & Healing public service announcements in every remaining episode of its new series INTERVENTION this season.  In addition, A&E Network and the Partnership will cross-link their Web sites with relevant information.

INTERVENTION is a powerful and gripping new program in which people confront their darkest demons and seek a route to redemption.  The series, which airs Sundays at 10pm EST/PST on A&E, captures true drama as the person in crisis, along with their loved ones and the interventionists grapple with the problem and attempt to provide a roadmap to recovery. 

Hope, Help & Healing is an innovative, multimedia campaign designed to encourage people to seek help for alcohol and drug problems.  Through this campaign, which was launched earlier this year in Cincinnati, OH and Houston, TX, the Partnership aims to change public attitudes about addiction and intervention by communicating messages of hope, help and healing.

As part of the collaboration, A&E will produce Hope, Help & Healing town hall meetings in Houston and Cincinnati, featuring experts provided by the Partnership in conjunction with their local alliance partners, The Council on Alcohol and Drugs Houston and Coalition for a Drug-Free Greater Cincinnati.  One of the town halls will also be presented as a live webcast made available via A&E and the Partnership’s Web sites, archived for viewing after the event. The webcast will also be made available via A&E Classroom, for which A&E will produce a program/viewing guide to be distributed to 100,000 educators across the nation.  A&E also plans to donate a portion of profits from the sale of Intervention DVDs to the Partnership.  

“For nearly two decades, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America has been doing great work,” said Dr. O’Connell.  “To team with the Partnership on a project of this magnitude is a real honor.  Our hope is that the combination of town meetings, PSAs surrounding INTERVENTION, the on-line information and study guides will disseminate Partnership information to a whole new audience, leading to an increased awareness of the benefits of interventions.”

“We are delighted to be working with A&E on this project,” commented Ginna Marston, executive vice president and founding member of the Partnership.  “Combining the messages of our Hope, Help & Healing campaign with the content of the INTERVENTION program and the reach of one of the most distributed cable networks will surely lead to a wider understanding of the illness of addiction and the hope that intervention and treatment can provide.” 

Lives That Make A Difference™ is a new A&E Network outreach campaign focusing on people from all walks of life and all age groups who have made a positive impact on our world.  A&E will regularly recognize newsmakers, celebrities and everyday people whose actions epitomize a personal commitment to making a difference.  Through A&E Network programming, public service announcements, educational materials and an interactive Web site, the A&E Lives That Make A Difference campaign helps others learn how they can make their local neighborhood or their global community a better place through public service or private enterprise. A&E Classroom® will utilize “Lives That Make A Difference to help create awareness in schools by suggesting role models, activities and platforms for students from grades 2 through 12. For more information, visit our website at www.AETV.com/class.

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America®
The Partnership for a Drug-Free America is a non-profit coalition of professionals from the communications industry.  Using a national drug-education advertising campaign and other forms of media communication, the Partnership exists to help reduce illicit drug use in America. With deep roots in the advertising industry, the Partnership is comprised of a small staff and hundreds of volunteers from the communications industry, who create and disseminate the Partnership’s work.  The organization began in 1986 with seed money provided by the American Association of Advertising Agencies. The Partnership, which receives major funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and support from more than 200 corporations and companies, is strictly non-partisan and accepts no funding from manufacturers of alcohol and/or tobacco products.  All actors in the Partnership’s ads appear pro bono through the generosity of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. For more information, visit the Partnership’s Web site at www.drugfree.org.

About A&E Network
Now reaching more than 88 million homes, A&E Network brings viewers the Art of EntertainmentTM through a unique combination of three genres – The Art of Biography, The Art of Documentary, and The Art of Drama.  A brand synonymous with excellence in television, A&E Network offers a diverse mix of programming ranging from critically acclaimed original series and movies, to innovative documentaries, to the Emmy Award-winning BIOGRAPHY® series, to dramatic specials, feature film presentations, and contemporary performances. In 2004, A&E Network holds the distinct record for the most Primetime Emmy nominations (24) for a basic cable network. 
 

The 2005 primetime line-up includes several new series, featuring the premieres of: Caesars 24/7, an unprecedented peek behind the scenes at Las Vegas' most legendary resort and casino; Intervention, a powerful and gripping new program featuring real people at the boiling point of a personal crisis as they are confronted by friends and family who have staged a surprise intervention; Knievel’s Wild Ride an exuberant and altogether surreal look into the life of Kaptain Robbie, one of our generation's greatest living daredevils and son of Evil Knievel.  Also set to debut in 2005, Being…, executive produced by Mick Jagger, giving viewers an exclusive, all-access pass into the lives of today’s most popular and fascinating people.  The 2005 schedule also includes a host of topical and timely documentary specials under the A&E Indie Films including Bearing Witness, Murderball and Rock School and a quarterly series titled Movie Real, bringing viewers the true stories behind the topics of Hollywood’s biggest releases.  Great drama also remains the heart of the A&E Network brand with upcoming original movies such as Faith of My Fathers, and Blackout.  Returning real-life series in 2005 include Dog The Bounty Hunter, Growing Up Gotti, Airline, Family Plots and The First 48.
 
The A&E Network website is located at www.aetv.com and the Biography® website is located at www.Biography.com.   The Biography Club is located at www.BiographyClub.com.   For more information and photography please visit us on the web at www.aetvpress.com.

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