CBS Fuels New Marketing Channel for Dealers

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL (January 17, 2008) - Automotive Broadcasting NetworkT (ABN) today marked the company's official launch by announcing an alliance with CBS, America's most watched television network to provide a new, innovative marketing channel that helps automotive dealers increase sales across departments by going beyond the reach of traditional media.

ABN enables dealers, which number more than 20,000 in the United States, to provide highly relevant content via a private television network in their dealerships. This translates to new opportunities to enhance customer loyalty, improve customer satisfaction (CSI) scores and boost sales by cross-selling dealership visitors on available products and services.

Under the agreement, CBS Outernet, a part of CBS, will power ABN with high quality, fast-paced, family-friendly entertainment including CBS programming not normally available during business hours as well as clips and segments from "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," "Entertainment Tonight," and news content from "60 Minutes" and "The Early Show." Central to ABN's offering is a series of automotive-specific "shorts" such as tech tips and walk-arounds, which are produced by ABN and designed to inform and educate customers and ultimately increase sales.

"It's a well-known fact that existing customers are the best bet in terms of marketing spend and customers already in a dealership are pre-disposed to buy more," said Jerry Daniels, founder, Automotive Broadcasting Network. "In today's hyper-competitive environment, it is absolutely essential for automotive dealers to spend their limited ad dollars on marketing tools that put them ahead of the pack.

ABN does just that by offering dealers something they've never had before -- an effective way to present branding and call-to-action messages to customers while they are in the dealership and thinking about their existing or next vehicle."

"The CBS viewing experience is the perfect basis for ABN's unique business proposition because we are supplying rich content that is sure to engage the dealership visitor," said George Schweitzer, president, CBS Marketing. "In turn, ABN is providing an excellent new outlet for CBS video programming and expanding our reach in an area we consider significant -- the fast-growing digital 'out-of-home' media category."

Daniels, a former executive vice president at Asbury Automotive, one of the largest automotive retailers in the country, created the concept behind ABN after experiencing the powerful video programming that automakers create to share upcoming model year plans with their dealer body. A 25-year veteran in retail automotive, Daniels knew that these exciting videos were very effective in informing, generating excitement and increasing loyalty. He reasoned that informative, compelling video media could also be effective in the dealership itself to create a bond with showroom visitors and customers waiting for their vehicle to be serviced.

The Automotive Broadcasting Network Difference

Use of private television networks found on many airlines and retail stores, such as Circuit City, Wal-Mart and Sears leads to significant sales increases for those companies. In fact, research has shown that 30% of consumers make unplanned purchases because of an in-store television network. At a dealership, customers who choose to wait for their vehicle while it is being serviced spend an average of one hour, 32 minutes at the dealership. With ABN network programming, dealerships can relay up to 30, targeted messages an hour to that captive customer. "You can't over estimate the value of message frequency that the ABN product delivers," said Rob Mudd, president of the Mudd Advertising Agency, one of the largest automotive ad agencies in the U.S. "The industry spends billions to drive consumers to the showroom and ABN is the key to influencing consumers once they are on site."

ABN offers an entirely new way for dealers to increase sales by controlling what consumers see in the showroom and the service waiting area. As part of its regular programming, ABN provides targeted automotive spots including tech tips and walk-arounds of the latest models. Dealers can customize the content by incorporating their own branding or call-to-action spots about the dealership's amenities, service rewards program, customer testimonials and more. This targeted content drives traffic to a dealership's sales, parts, and service departments and decreases perceived waiting times, a leading factor in low CSI scores. Additionally, competitors' ads normally seen on regular television, are eliminated.

Specifically, the goal of ABN is to: ·

Increase traffic flow from the service department to the sales, parts, and body shop departments ·

Provide up-sell opportunities in the service department ·

Eliminate competitor's advertising, normally seen on dealership televisions ·

Provide entertaining, engaging content to reduce perceived wait times ·

Increase CSI scores ·

Enhance customer loyalty

Automotive industry experts including Larry Van Tuyl, president of Van Tuyl Automotive Investment Group, believe the product will be a huge advantage to dealers, who operate in a highly competitive marketplace. "Automotive Broadcasting Network has the most unique and compelling marketing tool the automotive industry has seen in 50 years," said Van Tuyl. "It truly has the capacity to change the way dealers reach their clients in a way that is cost-effective and entertaining."

The ABN experience is a turnkey program in which ABN provides all hardware, installation and programming. Cost structures are based on the level of content desired by the individual dealer.

About CBS Corporation

CBS Corporation is a mass media company with constituent parts that reach back to the beginnings of the broadcast industry, as well as newer businesses that operate on the leading edge of the media industry. The Company, through its many and varied operations, combines broad reach with well-positioned local businesses, all of which provide it with an extensive distribution network by which it serves audiences and advertisers in all 50 states and key international markets. It has operations in virtually every field of media and entertainment, including broadcast television (CBS and The CW - a joint venture between CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment), cable television (Showtime and CSTV Networks), local television (CBS Television Stations), television production and syndication (CBS Paramount Network Television and CBS Television Distribution), radio (CBS Radio), advertising on out-of-home media (CBS Outdoor), publishing (Simon & Schuster), interactive media (CBS Interactive), music (CBS Records), licensing and merchandising (CBS Consumer Products), video/DVD (CBS Home Entertainment), in-store media (CBS Outernet) and motion pictures (CBS Films). For more information, log on to www.cbscorporation.com.

About Automotive Broadcasting Network

Based in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, Automotive Broadcasting Network (www.abnetwork.com) is the first, in-dealership private television channel controlled by the dealer. ABN, which is fueled by the CBS Television Network, was formed to leverage existing dealership assets to assist automobile dealerships with selling more products and services in an entirely unique and professional manner.