LAS VEGAS, April 11 /PRNewswire/ — Chicago-based MPI Networks launched a unique web site today which provides access to thousands of high-quality moving images dating back to the invention of film in the late 1800s. MPI Networks includes a comprehensive, searchable database, which will evolve into an invaluable tool for the site's primary users:

• Consumers wanting to navigate the 20th century through various streamed and downloadable images
• Media professionals seeking to license and download specific images to enhance or to illustrate their web pages, as well as search for images to be used in other media
• Schools, libraries and other institutions needing streamed or downloadable images for non-commercial projects involving their students, teachers or researchers
• Producers requiring desktop access to an extensive library of moving images

The database can be searched by theme, personality, event, decade, etc. MPI Networks is a hybrid of the MPI Media Group's multiple divisions including MPI Home Video, MPI Teleproductions, and The WPA Film Library.

"What makes this site revolutionary is its content," said Waleed B. Ali, Chairman of the Board for MPI Networks and Chief Executive Officer of the MPI Media Group. "There is nowhere else on earth where, in the privacy of your own home or office, you can quickly and easily find moving visual images on virtually every subject imaginable. For someone doing research on Queen Victoria, Rock 'N Roll, Gandhi, World War II, the 1960s or even the countdown to the new millennium, the images will be available from MPI Networks."

MPI Networks, unveiled at the National Association of Broadcasters 2000 convention in Las Vegas, is compatible with the forthcoming broadband delivery systems.

"MPI Networks is a valuable resource tool, not only because of its abundant, exclusive library of moving images, but also for the quality of those images," said Matthew White, founder of The WPA Film Library. "No other American company has the rights to the variety and totality of our library. Now, the general public can view these images with just a few clicks of the mouse."

The initial site currently has more than 8,000 moving images. Within a short period of time, MPI Networks expects to make available the bulk of its library to the Internet. The content will include The WPA Film Library of stock footage and a portion of MPI's original full-length programming, as well as the MPI Home Video Library of videocassettes and DVD programs which will be available for on-line purchase.

Internationally renowned KPMG Consulting, LLC, will help with the technological integration of MPI Networks, while MediaSite, Inc. will provide breakthrough video indexing technology to make it easy to navigate the site.

MPI, established in 1976, has been one of the leading independent producers and distributors of fiction and non-fiction programming, particularly in the home video arena, where it remains the oldest surviving company in the industry. In the later part of the 1980s, MPI merged with The WPA Film Library, which has become one of the world's largest distributors of stock footage. WPA's exclusive library contains more than 60,000 hours of moving images, focusing largely on history and popular culture. The footage dates back to the invention of cinema in 1895 and covers the entire 20th century. MPI also controls exclusive rights to thousands of hours of programming for the home video market, as well as all other media. MPI Networks is also an asset to existing WPA clients – including producers, TV networks, advertisers, etc. -- because it will now be possible to stream and view particular images under consideration for licensing in whichever media the client selects.

For more information, visit www.mediasite.com.

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