'Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief' Supported by Greatest Digital Distribution and Support of Any Televised Fundraising Event in History

NEW YORK, LOS ANGELES and LONDON, Jan. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- When "Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief" airs tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT and 7:00 p.m. CT, the telethon will be supported by the greatest digital distribution, promotion, and support of any televised fundraising event in history.  iTunes, YouTube, Hulu, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo!, AOL, Microsoft, Fancast, Akamai, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, FLO TV, PayPal and dozens more digital partners across online, mobile, social media and download-to-own have joined together to promote and live stream the event in support of Haiti relief efforts.  

LIVE STREAMING

The two-hour telethon will be live streamed in its entirety across sites including: ABC.com, AOL, AT&T Entertainment, Bebo, Bild Germany, Bing, Buddy TV, Causecast, CBS.com, CNN.com,  Eonline.com, EpixHD.com, Facebook, Fancast, Gawker, GlobalGrind.com, Habbo UK, Huffington Post, Hulu, Metacafe, MSN, MySpace, NBC.com, Oprah.com, OurStage.com, PerezHilton, Rhapsody, Veoh, VEVO, Yahoo and YouTube. The live streaming is powered via the Akamai HD Network.

On mobile, the event will be live streamed via Alltel, Sprint, Verizon Wireless, MobiTV, FloTV, via apps on iPhone, Palm, Inc. and Blackberry, and across MTV Networks mobile sites, which will be promoted via AT&T, PrimeTime2Go, Yahoo Mobile, AOL Mobile and the largest mobile ad networks.

Live streaming of the telethon will be made available online by major cable and telco operators as well including AT&T, Bright House Networks, Charter, Comcast, Cox Communications, Mediacom, Suddenlink, Time Warner Cable, Warner Latin America and Wide Open West.

MTV Networks sites including MTV.com, VH1.com, Nick.com, TeenNick.com, AddictingGames.com, ParentsConnect.com, Shockwave.com, ComedyCentral.com, The DailyShow.com, ColbertNation.com, Jokes.com, Atom.com, Spike.com, GameTrailers.com and TVLand.com will all be promoting "Hope for Haiti Now" through live streaming of the event and the celebrity-manned phone banks, text alerts to registered users, on-demand video and post-show clips.

Internationally, users can watch via a multi-language site (21 languages), hope.mtv.com, which will include information on the telethon, links to the donation site, a central Facebook connect widget and links to the Twitter Tracker.  

DOWNLOAD-TO-OWN

Beginning today, iTunes customers will be able to exclusively pre-order both the "Hope for Haiti Now" full performance album ($7.99) and the full two-hour video telecast ($2.99), and can receive an exclusive studio track from Jay-Z, Bono, The Edge and Rihanna.   Pre-orders will be delivered in the days following the telethon.  Individual audio performances will be available for purchase and download for $.99 cents each in the days following the telethon.  Apple, the record labels and the artists will donate their share of the proceeds to Haiti relief funds managed by "Hope for Haiti Now" charities.  Performances will also be available for purchase on AmazonMP3 and Rhapsody, with distribution provided by INgrooves.

SOCIAL MEDIA

"Hope for Haiti Now" will also have unprecedented support from the leading social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Gigya.  Twitter is promoting "Hope for Haiti Now" across every user profile page – a first for Twitter – and will promote the #igave hashtag during the show to encourage people to share how they've helped Haiti relief efforts. MTV.com and hopeforhaitinow.org will also provide the "Hope For Haiti Now" Twitter Tracker, offering a visual representation of real-time conversations around the globe taking place on Twitter to capture how people are responding to the tragedy in unprecedented ways. Built by Stamen Design, with technical support from Twitter, users will be able to follow activity on a country-by-country basis, down to individual tweets at any given moment.  Gigya is providing a social widget to support "Hope for Haiti Now" with a live chat experience alongside the live stream on both MTV.com and VH1.com.   

TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS

"Hope for Haiti Now" has the support of the following technology partners across its online and mobile operations that have made all of this possible: AdMob, Akamai, Drop.io, Incited Media, Inlet Technologies, iStreamPlanet, Kyte, Level 3, Mediafly, Millennial Media, Mobile Accord, Mobile Giving Foundation, Netbiscuits, Obtiva, Quattro, Real Networks, Stamen Design, Tagged, Wiredset and Xtreme Labs.

The global telethon will feature musical performances by Madonna, Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, Sting, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift, Haitian Artist Emaline Michel, Beyonce, Coldplay, and group performances by Keith Urban, Kid Rock, and Sheryl Crow; and by Bono, The Edge, Jay-Z, and Rihanna.  

In addition to musical performances, Wyclef Jean in New York City, George Clooney in Los Angeles, and CNN's Anderson Cooper reporting from Haiti, "Hope for Haiti Now" will feature President Bill Clinton, Ben Stiller, Brad Pitt, Chris Rock, Clint Eastwood, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jon Stewart, Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman, Nicole Kidman, Robert Pattinson, Samuel L. Jackson, Tom Hanks, Will Smith with Muhammad Ali, and more than one hundred of the biggest names in film, television, and music.

DIGITAL DONATIONS

"Hope for Haiti Now" will begin accepting donations at 12:00 p.m. ET/9:00 a.m. PT on Friday, January 22 via the following methods:

• Online: www.hopeforhaitinow.org
• Text: Text "GIVE" to 50555

All proceeds will benefit Haiti relief funds managed by "Hope for Haiti Now" charities: Oxfam America, Partners in Health, the Red Cross, UNICEF, United Nations World Food Programme, Yele Haiti Foundation, and the newly formed Clinton Bush Haiti Foundation.

"Hope for Haiti" is produced by Joel Gallen and Tenth Planet Productions, in collaboration with Viacom's MTV Networks and George Clooney.

About MTV Networks

MTV Networks, a division of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is one of the world's leading creators of entertainment content, with brands that engage and connect diverse audiences across television, online, mobile, games, virtual worlds and consumer products. The company's portfolio spans more than 150 television channels and 400 digital media properties worldwide, and includes MTV, VH1, CMT, Logo, Harmonix, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Nick Jr., TeenNick, AddictingGames, Neopets, COMEDY CENTRAL, SPIKE, TV Land, Atom, GameTrailers, and Xfire.

SOURCE MTV Networks