BLACK ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION AND MICROSOFT ANNOUNCE NEW ALLIANCE

Companies to Form Joint Venture to Produce Multimedia Content For the
Internet and Interactive Television

WASHINGTON, D.C. FEB. 1, 1996 BET Holdings Inc. and Microsoft Corp.
announced today that they will launch a joint venture and have agreed to
form a new company to deliver compelling interactive entertainment and
information. BET, the leader in high-quality entertainment and information
programming for African Americans, and Microsoft, the worldwide leader in
software for personal computers, will work together closely to produce a
broad range of engaging content, including Internet online programming,
interactive television and CD-ROM titles. The goal is to create the
premier brand for African-American consumers on the information
superhighway.

"This joint venture will help to ensure that black and urban consumers will
be full participants in the information and economic opportunities
provided by the converging communications industry," said Bob Johnson,
chairman and CEO of BET Holdings. "BET is excited about working with
Microsoft in a shared vision for the information age."

"BET has been an innovator in the entertainment industry, and we are proud
to announce our alliance," said Bill Gates, chairman and CEO of Microsoft.
"I believe BET and Microsoft will help to make the Internet and the
interactive entertainment industry a place that is exciting for all
consumers. This joint venture is a great combination of BET's strong
leadership and experience in this market and Microsoft's leading-edge
technology."

The new company that Microsoft and BET have agreed to form will be owned
equally by Microsoft and BET. The company will be managed from BET
headquarters in Washington, D.C. Initially, BET and Microsoft will focus
on developing interactive programming that is intended to be delivered via
MSN, The Microsoft Network. Offerings are expected to include music, arts
and entertainment, public affairs, teen programming and merchandising
targeting African-American consumers. As part of the joint venture,
Microsoft and BET plan to offer a program for other companies servicing
the African-American marketplace to provide content under this brand.

An initial collaboration between BET and Microsoft can be viewed on MSN
now. In celebration of Black History Month, the companies collaborated on
a title launched today. "Songs and Stories: MSN Celebrates Black History
Month" features content from Black Entertainment Television, which is
celebrating its 16th season on cable, and two magazines published by BET,
Emerge, a news magazine, and YSB: The Magazine for Young Sisters and
Brothers, a teen publication.

MSN is one of the world's leading Internet service providers, offering
integrated Internet access including an e-mail account, full World Wide
Web access (where available) with seamlessly integrated links to popular
Web sites, and thousands of Internet newsgroups. MSN also offers dynamic
content, including hundreds of special-interest bulletin boards and unique
multimedia content such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, home-repair
titles, car-buying guides, and up-to-date news and information from the
service's news package, MSN News. The Microsoft Network is available in 50
countries, and access software is localized into 26 languages.

BET Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BTV) is the only publicly traded media company
that primarily targets black consumers. Its core business, Black
Entertainment Television Inc. (BET), is an advertiser-supported, basic
cable television programming service launched in January 1980 that serves
as both a cultural center and an information source for BET's target
audience. The BET Cable Network airs a variety of music- video shows, as
well as originally produced and syndicated programming, 24 hours a day, to
44.2 million households with cable. (Subscriber counts are Nielsen Home
Video estimates from its January 1996 Monthly Universe Estimate.) BET
Holdings continues to leverage its brand- name identity into other growing
markets, including pay-per-view movies, magazine publishing, direct
merchandising, syndication and film production.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in
software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of
products and services for business and personal use, each designed with
the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take
advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.

The Microsoft Network is operated by Microsoft Corp. on behalf of Microsoft
Network LLC.

If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft,
please visit the Microsoft home page at http://www.microsoft.com/corpinfo.
To receive Microsoft press releases by fax, please call (800) 859-5915 in
the United States or (201) 333-0314 internationally.
 
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