SOURCE: Magic Lantern Group

March 31, 2005 16:05 ET

Magic Lantern Group to Be a Key Content Provider for Sympatico.MSN.ca, Canada's Most Popular Online Destination With 15 Million Unique Visitors

NEW YORK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- March 31, 2005 -- Magic Lantern Group, Inc. (AMEX: GML), a leading international distributor of educational content and third-generation, digital content and e-delivery solutions, announced today that it is working with Bell Canada and MSN® Canada to provide exclusive content on Sympatico/MSN Video, a new free video channel launched on March 29, 2005. Magic Lantern will play a key role, providing 15 new titles in 3 unique categories every week. Available at http://video.Sympatico.MSN.ca, the video channel lets online visitors create customized play lists of streaming video clips of their favorite Canadian content using Windows Media Player®.

Magic Lantern will preview its wide range of video for school-age children and homework projects on Sympatico/MSN Video. What you see from Magic Lantern is the best of what is entertaining, informative and useful on video for children from pre-school to the end of high school. New releases, viewers' picks, the best of old favorites, are what fits in homework needs right now. Show-and-tell at school, viewing activities to make homework fun, new ways to collect and play back class projects for independent learning and extended study, all of this is what learning video brings. Magic Lantern videos bring fresh bloom to old subjects. Attractive video images, insightful ways to see and understand, safe viewing for learners of all ages, Magic Lantern videos show and tell how, and where and why. They engage mathematics, language arts, science and social studies from the learner's perspective to interest, entertain and inform. Familiar subjects through fresh eyes, the moments are all there, insights and understanding you can be sure to find at Magic Lantern.

Magic Lantern Group President and CEO Bob Goddard stated, "We are thrilled to have been selected to team with Sympatico/MSN Video and provide quality video content on-demand over the web from our vast digital library. To be the first video content distributor to be selected and pass Sympatico/MSN's rigorous testing requirements for delivery of video content is a credit to the MLG team. We are hopeful that this arrangement will demonstrate MLG's capabilities and increase awareness of our product offerings."

"Combining Magic Lantern's educational video content with Windows Media Technology, and the Sympatico/MSN brand to reach millions of Canadians is very exciting for us," said Jeff Lorenz, EVP Sales & Marketing, Magic Lantern Group. "We were thrilled to participate as a builder of this new service from Sympatico/MSN and we look forward to a long and successful relationship with MSN Canada and Bell Canada."

Sympatico.MSN.ca is Canada's most popular online destination with 15 million unique visitors* experiencing its entertainment, information and communication services in February 2005. The portal brings together Bell Sympatico's Web content and broadband services with MSN's popular Hotmail, Messenger and Search services. Bell Sympatico is Canada's leading ISP, while MSN Messenger is the favorite instant messaging service of Canadians with more than 10.6 million users* and MSN Hotmail is the leading web-based email service, with 12.6 million Canadian users*. Sympatico.MSN.ca also delivers exclusive content to Sympatico High Speed Internet service subscribers, as well as value-added services such as MSN Premium and Microsoft Outlook Live. (*) February 2005, Media Metrix Canada.

About Magic Lantern Group, Inc.

Magic Lantern Group, Inc. operates several strategic subsidiaries and divisions, including the global distribution of videos and DVDs from more than 300 world-renowned producers, its core business for nearly 30 years. Key divisions are Sonoptic Technologies, a pioneer in commercial digital video encoding and online digital video utility and leading provider of third-generation digital technology solutions and the recently launched Magic Vision Digital Media, Inc., a provider of digital on-demand/on-line desktop delivery for sports entertainment, health care, human resource, and corporate governance and compliance industries. For more information, visit: http://www.magiclanterngroup.com.

Any statements in this Press Release about future expectations, plans and prospects for the Company constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The company has tried, whenever possible, to identify these forward-looking statements using words such as "anticipates," "believes," "could," "estimates," "expects," "plans," "intends," "potential" and similar expressions. These statements reflect the company's current beliefs and are based upon currently available information. Accordingly, such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including those risks identified in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, which could cause the company's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by such statements. Revenue projections contained in this release are subject to the successful execution of e-commerce websites. The company undertakes no obligation to update or advise in the event of any change, addition or alteration to the information catered in this press release including such forward-looking statements.