June 4, 2003
Press Release

The Royals Sports Television Network (RSTN) announced today that it has reached a redistribution agreement with Fox Sports Net to carry Royals baseball, beginning with tonight's game with the Los Angeles Dodgers at 9:00 p.m.

The 100 Kansas City Royals games will be produced by RSTN and will also be carried on the cable systems listed below that have already reached previous distribution agreements with RSTN.

The agreement with Fox Sports Net will bring RSTN and 100 Kansas City Royals games each year to cable homes in Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, whose cable systems carry Fox Sports Net. This includes the cities of St. Joseph, Mo., Topeka, Kan., Manhattan, Kan., Wichita, Kan., and Omaha, Neb. In the Joplin, Springfield and Columbia/Jefferson City regions of Missouri, only a portion of the 100-game schedule will be available due to timing conflicts with the St. Louis Cardinals' telecasts on Fox Sports Net.

"We are very pleased to have Fox Sports Network join our new venture," said RSTN President, Mark Gorris. "RSTN will benefit from their vast network and will now reach over 1.4 million cable homes in Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. Under our mission of 'more games, for more people,' our staff is at work trying to expand our network to additional homes throughout the six-state region."

"Fox Sports Net is excited to bring Royals games to as many homes as possible in the region," said Fox Sports Net General Manager and Vice-President Jack Donovan. "This agreement enables Fox Sports Net to continue its working relationship with the Royals, which has always been our goal, and to provide our viewers the best local programming possible."

The agreement with Fox Sports Net covers only the cable homes that carry Fox Sports Net and does not include the satellite systems. RSTN will continue to negotiate with Dish Network and DirecTV to reach agreements to provide RSTN to the satellite viewers in the Royals home television territory.

"Our goal is to maximize distribution without sacrificing the integrity of the deals already in place," added Gorris. "We remain hopeful that the satellite companies will want to provide RSTN's high-quality programming to their customers on the same terms as our cable partners."

The Royals formed their own television network beginning with the 2003 season. Through 2007, RSTN will televise 100 regular season games on participating cable and satellite systems throughout the Royals television territory in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

RSTN will also produce and televise 14 over- the-air games (Opening Day and 13 Sunday afternoon games) on KMCI-Channel 38 in Kansas City and selected stations throughout the six-state region in 2003.

The Royals have agreements with Time Warner Cable, which is available in Kansas City, Marshall and Chillicothe, Mo., Overland Park, Oakley and Colby, Kan., as well as Lincoln, Auburn, Columbus, David City, Fairbury, Falls City, Fremont, Humboldt, Trenton and York in Nebraska; Everest Connections which serves Lenexa, Shawnee and Overland Park, Kan.; Unite which serves Kearney, Mo; Sunflower Broadband in Lawrence, Kan.; H & B Cable which serves Holyrood, Kan., and surrounding communities; Wilson Cable which is available in Wilson and Lucas, Kan; and Mid- State TV which serves Aurora, Neb., and surrounding communities.

The Midwest Region of Fox Sports Net reaches more than four million cable and satellite television homes in six Midwest states, and produces more than 1600 hours of local programming each year. Nationally, Fox Sports Net reaches more than 80 million homes through its network of 21 regional sports channels. In addition to home team games, FSN telecasts a wide variety of national sports events and programming, including Best Damn Sports Show Period and 54321.