BET's COLLEGE HILL 4 Premieres to Record Breaking Numbers

LOS ANGELES, March 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Tuesday night, a record number of viewers tuned-in to the premiere of COLLEGE HILL 4 featuring a special one hour debut with two back-to-back episodes, now the most watched episodes in the series' history on BET. Produced by Edmonds Entertainment and BET, COLLEGE HILL 4 surpassed last season's premiere night ratings success garnering a 1.4 BET coverage rating during the 10 p.m. ET/PT debut hour (1.2 million households and 1.6 million total viewers), according to Nielsen Media Research.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070309/DCF097 )

COLLEGE HILL 4 posted some other impressive gains with a 33% increase in total viewers and a 55% increase among the target demo of adults 18-34 over the previous season's premiere. Additionally, COLLEGE HILL 4 is among BET's most watched original series premieres in BET History. For calendar year 2007, COLLEGE HILL 4 is cable's #1 returning original series among Black households (7.3 US Black rating).

"Surpassing previous season's ratings success, COLLEGE HILL 4 has proven the power of this franchise to reach and resonate with the BET audience. We are proud of the strong initial numbers and look forward to future ratings success throughout the season," said Reginald Hudlin, BET President of Entertainment.

"The beauty of the Virgin Islands coupled with our culturally dynamic cast members resulted in a spectacular season," said Tracey Edmonds, executive producer. "We are very happy that the show has gained new viewers and that fans faithfully continue to tune in."

Contributing to the overall ratings success of COLLEGE HILL 4, the BET Digital Media Group leveraged several of it's platforms to help promote awareness for COLLEGE HILL 4 and to drive deeper audience engagement.

Starting with BET on Demand, the Best of COLLEGE HILL 3 was made available as an exclusive VOD offering to fans in anticipation of the new season. Additionally, through the BET iTunes store, fans were further treated to an exclusive opportunity to download episode one a full week prior to its network debut.

As the season unfolds, each new episode will be available for download on iTunes the day after they premiere and on BET on Demand two weeks following the premiere.

Each Friday at 2 p.m. ET, fans of COLLEGE HILL 4 can chat with members of this season's cast by visiting http://www.bet.com/. While on BET.com, viewers can see a sneak peak of the next episode, which will premiere on the following Tuesday at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT, on BET On Blast.

At the official COLLEGE HILL Wiki -- sponsored by BET and powered by Wetpaint -- fans can post questions or comments about previous shows and developing events and relationships in the lives of the eight college-age housemates. They can also post questions or send "shout outs" to the housemates and show's producer, contribute to the episode guides and collaborative housemate bios, and test their COLLEGE HILL IQ with the ultimate fan-crated COLLEGE HILL Trivia Challenge.

In other groundbreaking news, the day after the COLLEGE HILL 4 series premiere, the University of the Virgin Islands Admissions Office reported a sharp increase in electronic inquiries from prospective applicants about admission to UVI, receiving more than three times the average number of requests.

COLLEGE HILL 4 can be seen Tuesday nights at 10 p.m. ET/PT on BET. Viewers can catch the first two episodes of COLLEGE HILL 4 during a special encore broadcast of episode one and two on Saturday March, 10th at 7:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. ET/PT, Sunday March, 11th at 10:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. ET/PT and Tuesday, March 13th at 12:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. ET/PT respectively. In addition, a marathon of the first four episodes will air on Saturday, March 24th from 12-2p.m. ET/PT.

ABOUT BET

BET, a subsidiary of Viacom, Inc. , provides contemporary entertainment that speaks to young Black adults from an authentic, unapologetic viewpoint of the Black experience. BET connects with its target audience in a way no other media outlet can; providing hit music, entertainment and news programming that is reflective of their experiences such as: 106 & PARK, RAP CITY, MEET THE FAITH, COLLEGE HILL, and AMERICAN GANGSTER. In addition, outstanding mega-specials such as the BET AWARDS (the #1 Awards Show on Cable Television), BET HIP-HOP AWARDS and CELEBRATION OF GOSPEL keep viewers regularly tuned in for the latest and greatest in Black entertainment. Reaching more than 84 million homes, BET can be seen in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean.

ABOUT EDMONDS ENTERTAINMENT

Established by producer Tracey E. Edmonds and R&B superstar Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Edmonds Entertainment Group has soared like a shooting star to the ranks of Hollywood's elite entertainment companies. Some of the company's most noteworthy works include the critically-acclaimed Soul Food, a feature film produced for $7 million dollars that grossed over $43 million dollars worldwide. The feature also won five NAACP Image Awards and spawned the popular cable television series, Soul Food: The Series on Showtime. Soul Food: The Series was the recipient of seven NAACP Image Awards during its five-season run. Edmonds Entertainment also produced the wildly popular and highly successful reality series College Hill which will premiere its fourth season on March 6 on BET. In addition to College Hill, Edmonds Entertainment also produced the thought-provoking reality series DMX: Soul of a Man and LIL KIM: Countdown to Lockdown which became the #1 original cable series in African American households in 2006. Both shows ran successfully on BET. Edmonds Entertainment recently completed the upcoming reality show, Blackstage featuring award-winning playwright, David E. Talbert.