Court TV Launches Out-Of-The-Box Marketing CampaignTrumpeting New Season of MURDER BY THE BOOK

Multi-Platform Campaign Includes Unprecedented Nationwide Cross-Promotion With Borders and Social Networking Site Gather.com


New York, NY. – Court TV, soon to be rebranded as truTV, has kicked off a nationwide marketing campaign across multiple platforms that includes an unprecedented alliance with Borders and social networking site Gather.com to promote the new season of the network’s original series MURDER BY THE BOOK. The marketing campaign features major cross promotion among the three entities, a “Search for the Next Great Crime Writer” contest and the DVD release of the first season of MURDER BY THE BOOK. The series, which returns Monday, Nov. 5, at 10 p.m. (ET), features best-selling authors who provide insight into true crime stories that have long captivated or had a personal impact on them.

“The alliance with Borders and Gather.com take the marketing elements surrounding this series to new heights by tapping into potential viewers in places we think we’ll find the most incredibly passionate fans,” said Mary Corigliano, senior vice president of marketing for Court TV/truTV. “Ultimately our campaign will be an all-encompassing effort to reach a very precise audience in large-scale but very targeted ways. By tapping into viewers who already have a professed interest in mystery and crime books, and by catching their eye in the very places they make their buying decisions during the busiest shopping time of the year, we are confident we can drive strong ratings growth for the show’s second season.”

Borders/Gather.com Cross Promotion
The cornerstone of the marketing campaign is a far-reaching cross promotion with Borders. As part of the initiative, more than 500 Borders superstores nationwide will create customized end-cap displays located in the Mystery/Thriller section that will include a tune-in poster for MURDER BY THE BOOK, a DVD set from Season One and a selection of books from the featured authors. Borders will also display shelf- and book-talkers, as well as window posters in some key markets, promoting the series and its authors. The nationwide displays will run through January.

Court TV will also be included in Borders’ weekly “Shortlist” email, sent to their millions-strong database. . The email blast will include information about the show and provide a link to www.bordersmedia.com/courttv, where members will be able to view a short interview with the author and a brief trailer for the upcoming episode of MURDER BY THE BOOK.

In addition, Borders and Court TV have arranged in-store appearances around the country for select authors appearing on the show:

David Baldacci, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m.
Borders
170 W. Ridgely Rd., Suite 220
Lutherville, MD 21093
(410) 453-0727

Lisa Gardner, Nov. 14 at 7p.m.
Borders
6 Wayside Road,
Burlington, MA 01803
(781) 221-2188

Linda Fairstein, Dec. 5 at 7 p.m.
Borders
1499 Post Rd
Fairfield, CT 06824
(203) 256-1619

Lee Child and Harlan Coben, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m.
Borders
10 Columbus Circle
New York, NY 10019
(212) 823-9775

Elizabeth George, Jan. 3 at 5:30 p.m.
Borders
1501 Fourth Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 622-4599

Borders and Court TV are also coordinating select authors’ participation in chat sessions on the Borders section of Gather.com.

“Working with Court TV and Gather.com is a win-win for us,” said Michael Tam, chief marketing officer for Borders Group, Inc. “Through this alliance, we can reach a much wider audience of like-minded, passionate fans of the mystery genre, which will introduce readers to new authors and titles, increase the number of viewers to the new Court TV series, enable customers to interact online at Gather.com with authors of the series and hopefully provide hundreds of book submissions for the Search for the Next Great Crime Writer contest hosted by Gather.com.”

“Clearly, we are setting a trend here, using our base of loyal members in our strong social network to partner with two leading companies in their respective fields,” says Tom Gerace, founder and CEO of Gather.com. “The alliance among Gather.com, Borders and Court TV is a powerful mix of media that delivers a multi-faceted platform to identify, vet and elevate aspiring mystery writers.”

“Search for the Next Great Crime Writer” Contest
A major aspect of the Court TV partnership with Borders and Gather.com is the “Search for the Next Great Crime Writer” contest. Borders will publish and sell the winning book entry, while Gather.com will house the contest and all the submissions. The winner of the contest will be guaranteed a book deal by Borders via their proprietary publishing program. Submissions of mystery/crime manuscripts will be evaluated and voted on by a community of readers, writers and aspiring authors on Gather.com.

The panel of judges will include writers David Baldacci, Sandra Brown and Harlan Coben; Bill Adams & Cathy Lashinsky, Borders, Inc Mystery/Thriller book buyers; Gather.com CEO Tom Gerace; and Ed Hersh, executive vice president of current programming for Court TV/truTV. They will select the grand prize winner from a pool of finalists identified by the Gather.com community. The winner will receive a publishing and exclusive distribution contract with Borders and $5,000 in advance royalties. Complete contest details can be found at http://courttv.gather.com/.

Court TV will support this effort with targeted marketing and grassroots outreach, which will include coffee sleeves distributed in New York. Borders will help promote in-store, while Gather.com will promote on its site. Borders will be featured in on-air contest spots on the network, as well as in on-screen graphics that will appear during the show, identifying Borders as the exclusive book retailer.

MURDER BY THE BOOK DVD Set
Court TV’s DVD release of season one of MURDER BY THE BOOK will be available exclusively at Borders during the run of the partnership. The DVD will include all 6 episodes, as well as bonus footage.

MURDER BY THE BOOK Season 2
Sandra Brown (Play Dirty), David Baldacci (Stone Cold) and Joseph Wambaugh (Hollywood Station) are among the slate of acclaimed authors set to appear on the second season of MURDER BY THE BOOK when the show returns with 13 new episodes beginning Monday, Nov. 5, at 10 pm (E/PT). Each week, one of these best-selling crime-mystery authors will take viewers through the case that has most affected or long captivated or touched them in some way. In each one-hour episode, the featured author will take viewers through the facts of that case. Through interviews with key players and commentary from the authors themselves, armchair detectives will have the opportunity to experience the story through the authors’ thoughts and insights.

Brown is set to be featured on MURDER BY THE BOOK Nov. 5 and will be followed by Baldacci on Nov. 12. Subsequent weeks will feature Wambaugh, Harlan Coben (The Woods), Lee Child (Bad Luck and Trouble), Lisa Gardner (Gone), Linda Fairstein (Bad Blood), Kathy Reichs (Break No Bones), Elizabeth George (What Came Before He Shot Her) and Nick Santora (Slip & Fall) – a Borders exclusive and proprietary title. Returning from last season are authors Lisa Scottoline (Daddy’s Girl), Faye Kellerman (Capital Crimes) and Jonathan Kellerman (Obsession).

Season one of MURDER BY THE BOOK, which premiered Nov. 13, 2006, averaged 1.3 million viewers and more than half a million adults 18-49. It also dramatically increased the delivery for its time period over the prior year among adults 18-49 (+30%) and total viewers (+41%).

MURDER BY THE BOOK is produced by Digital Ranch for Court TV. David Cargill is the supervising producer for Digital Ranch. Jessica Shreeve is executive producer for Court TV, and Ed Hersh is executive in charge of production.

Court TV/truTV will be television’s destination for real-life stories told from an exciting and dramatic first-person perspective. Currently seen in 91 million U.S. households as Court TV and enjoying more than a year of solid and consistent ratings growth, the soon-to-be relaunched network will feature high-stakes, action-packed originals that give viewers access to places and situations they can’t normally experience. Among truTV’s primetime fan favorites are the original series Forensic Files, Ocean Force, Haunting Evidence, Psychic Detectives and Dominick Dunne’s Power, Privilege and Justice. On weekdays, the channel will feature expert coverage during the daytime hours, following in the tradition of Court TV.

Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news, entertainment, animation and young adult media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.