METRO LAUNCHED IN NEWCASTLE TODAY An edition of Metro for Newcastle, England, commenced publication today. It follows closely on the heels of the launch of Metro in Santiago, Chile, last Friday. The number of cities with local editions of Metro, a newspaper financed entirely by advertising revenue and distributed free-of-charge, is growing rapidly. In Newcastle, the initial print run will be 75,000. The newspaper will cover all of Tyneside, in northeastern England. Copies will be distributed in the subways (underground), on ferries, and at bus terminals and commuter centers. In Santiago, the daily print run has been 120,000 since Friday. The Santiago edition was the first outside Europe. The Newcastle and Santiago editions are under the Metro International business area of Modern Times Group MTG AB, which also publishes local editions in Prague, Budapest, and Holland. Additional contracts have been won in Zurich and Philadelphia. Metro is published in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, and Helsinki as well, by MTG's Publishing business area, as these cities are in MTG's core markets, the Nordic countries and Baltic states. For additional information, please contact Pelle Törnberg, president and CEO of MTG, at +46-8-5620 0050. Modern Times Group MTG AB is listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange's O list (symbol: MTG) and on the Nasdaq National Market in New York (symbol: MTGNY). ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/01/17/20000117BIT00580/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/01/17/20000117BIT00580/bit0002.pdf