EMBARGOED until: Thursday 24 th June, 9pm

WINNERS ANNOUNCED AT THE 8 TH ANNUAL ASTRA AWARDS

Subscription television’s finest were honoured at the 8 th Annual ASTRA Awards ceremony hosted by Sky News political reporter David Speers at Sydney’s State Theatre on Thursday June 24 th . The LifeStyle Channel took the coveted Channel of the Year award as well as the two public vote categories. The channel’s home makeover show Selling Houses Australia picked up two awards, Most Outstanding Lifestyle Program following on from the win in 2009 and the Favourite Program award which was voted for by the viewing public. The second viewer’s choice award Favourite Personality went to Selling Houses Australia host Andrew Winter who also took the Most Outstanding Performance by a Presenter award.

Showcase came away with three awards. The stars of the drama series Tangle, Ben Mendelsohn and Justine Clarke were awarded Most Outstanding Performance by an Actor – Male and Most Outstanding Performance by an Actor – Female . The Best New Talent award, which is a new category this year, went to Satisfaction’s Camille Keenan. UKTV’s two part thriller False Witness was awarded the Most Outstanding Drama .

ASTRA CEO Petra Buchanan said “the variety of original Australian productions only available of subscription TV were centre stage last night. ASTRA Awards were hotly contested this year with all but two of the 17 awards going to local productions and Australian talent. It’s a real demonstration of the powerful content that Australians have come to love and expect on subscription TV.”

The Weather Channel won in two categories for Most Outstanding News Program or Coverage and Most Outstanding Documentary .

FOX8’s Australia’s Next Top Model took the award for Most Outstanding Light Entertainment Program which it also won in 2007. The MAX and Channel [V] co-produced Sound Relief won Most Outstanding Music Program or Coverage while Nickelodeon’s Camp Orange: The Final Frontier took the award for Most Outstanding Children’s Program or Event .

Sky News’ Kieran Gilbert was awarded Most Outstanding Performance by a Broadcast Journalist , an honour which last year went to host David Speers. An additional new category for 2010, Most Outstanding Use of Innovation in Programming went to In the Womb: Extreme Animals on National Geographic Channel.

For a full list of winners see below: Category Winner Channel Parent Company Best New Talent Camille Keenan - Satisfaction Season 3 Showcase The Premium Movie Partnership Most Outstanding Forecast For Disaster: The Weather Behind The Weather Channel XYZnetworks Documentary Black Saturday Most Outstanding Light Australia’s Next Top Model - Series 5 Entertainment Program Most Outstanding Andrew Winter - Selling Houses Australia The LifeStyle Channel XYZnetworks Performance By A Presenter Most Outstanding Use In The Womb: Extreme Animals National Geographic National Geographic Of Innovation In Channel Channel Programming Most Outstanding Kieran Gilbert SKY News Australian News Performance By A Channel Broadcast Journalist Most Outstanding Ben Mendelsohn -Tangle Showcase The Premium Movie Performance By An Partnership Actor - Male Most Outstanding Music Sound Relief Channel [V] & MAX XYZnetworks Program or Coverage Most Outstanding Selling Houses Australia - Season 2 The LifeStyle Channel XYZnetworks Lifestyle Program Most Outstanding Justine Clarke - Tangle Showcase The Premium Movie Performance By An Partnership Actor - Female Favourite Program Selling Houses Australia - Season 2 The Lifestyle Channel XYZnetworks Most Outstanding News The Weather Channel Black Saturday The Weather Channel XYZnetworks Program or Coverage Coverage: 4 th -8th Feb 2009 Most Outstanding False Witness UKTV BBC Worldwide Drama Favourite Personality Andrew Winter The LifeStyle Channel XYZnetworks Most Outstanding Camp Orange: The Final Frontier Nickelodeon Nickelodeon Children’s Program or Australia Event Most Outstanding Monday Night Football (2009 NRL Season Premier Media Sports Program or Round 21: Wests Tigers v Manly Warringah Group Coverage Sea Eagles) Channel Of The Year The LifeStyle Channel XYZ Networks

For ASTRA Awards Images and Video log on to the FTP site: ftp://nrp1.transfer.foxtel.com.au

User: ASTRAClient

Pass: astr@cL13nt

o Stills photography will be uploaded by 10pm at the latest o Broadcast footage will be provided by 11pm to Sky News and AAP and can be obtained from them. o Video clips for only will be available on the FTP site by 9am on Friday 25 th June

ARENA will be showing highlights from the 8th Annual ASTRA Awards on Saturday 26th June at 7.30pm.

About the ASTRA Awards Now in its 8th year, the ASTRA Awards recognise the wealth of talent and programming that fuels the subscription television industry in Australia. A panel of subscription television executives judged 15 award categories; two categories were decided by public vote via sms, online and and FOXTEL’s red button iTV application, and the Channel of the Year category was judged by the ASTRA Board of Directors. About ASTRA ASTRA is the peak industry body for subscription television in Australia. The subscription TV industry is the undisputed market leader of digital broadcasting with more than 110 channels broadcast on the FOXTEL, AUSTAR and OPTUS subscription TV platforms received by 34% of Australians through their homes and many more through hotels, clubs and other entertainment and business venues. For further information on the 8 th Annual ASTRA Awards, please contact 6dc: Amanda Fry or Laura McGarry P: 02 9280 1600 or 0418 262 282 E: [email protected] or [email protected]

ASTRA Awards 2010 Sponsors: Associate Partner Platform Supporters Media Partner Beauty Sponsors Beverage Sponsor