PointCast Connections Garners
Unparalleled Industry Support

More than 1,000 Webcasters Have Signed To Date;
Key Partnerships Forged with Excite and Recreational Software Advisory Council

CUPERTINO, California, April 23, 1997 - PointCast Incorporated, the leading news and information service for the Internet and corporate intranets, today announced that more than 1,000 publishers have signed up to be PointCast Connections? webcasters since it was announced last month. PointCast Connections enables anyone with a web site to broadcast content to PointCast's large and active viewership without investing in application development or expensive servers.

Also announced today are partnerships with Excite, Inc. and Recreational Software Advisory Council (RSAC), a leading Internet content rating service, which will make PointCast Connections easy to use for viewers and easy to control for corporations. Excite and PointCast? jointly announced an Internet navigation and search agreement where Excite will develop a comprehensive directory for the PointCast Connections channel, allowing PointCast viewers to navigate and search on the channel's wealth of publisher listings. Excite will be featured as PointCast's default Internet search service, integrating its leading Excite Search throughout the PointCast Network?. Excite will also offer a "Best of Connections" listing, with reviews of the most popular Connections content by Excite's editorial staff (see today's related announcement for more information).

Separately, PointCast announced that Connections will use RSAC's Internet content advisory system, RSACi, which provides rating detail of content contained within any given web site. RSAC's technology will enable corporate IT managers to control the content broadcast via Connections within their network by providing them with detail on all categories and levels of content being distributed. As a result of this new relationship with RSAC (http://www.rsac.org), a representative from PointCast will join RSACi's Advisory Board and will work closely with RSAC to enhance their system for rating news-related web sites.

"The momentum PointCast has achieved with Connections is nothing less than a referendum that Internet broadcast is a needed and desired compliment to companies' information needs," said Chris Hassett, president and CEO of PointCast. "Web publishers are quickly recognizing that PointCast Connections provides a unique opportunity to broadcast their content to a wide audience without investing resources in application development or buying expensive servers."

"We are very excited about the new partnership between RSAC and PointCast, and think RSAC's rating service will play an important role in Connections' continued success," said Stephen Balkam, executive director of the Recreational Software Advisory Council. "RSACi is well-suited for the corporate intranet environment and we are pleased PointCast has chosen to leverage the capabilities of our content advisory software system."

Based on open standards, Connections is completely free to publishers and requires no knowledge of programming to set up. Connections viewers can tune in to broadcasts from their favorite web sites from within PointCast's consistent, integrated TV-like interface. The Connections channel - which will include the sites a viewer specifies - will run seamlessly alongside other PointCast channels like CNN, Companies and Weather.

Connections is part of PointCast's next-generation client, which is expected to be available for open beta testing this quarter. Webcasters interested in broadcasting their content via the PointCast Network can sign up at http://www.pointcast.com/connections to receive updates on the Connections beta program. The PointCast Network is the first Internet broadcast network that delivers up-to-the-minute, personalized news and information directly to a viewer's computer screen. The PointCast Network can be downloaded for free at http://www.pointcast.com.

Webcasters Flock to Connections

Connections has received tremendous support because it uniquely addresses the needs of publishers, corporations and viewers. PointCast Connections publishers enjoy: Access to PointCast's large and active viewership Completely free broadcasting with no fees to pay or proprietary servers to buy Easy set up, requiring no C++ or Java programming Open standards Support for password-protected files which utilize standard HTTP authentication

"Free and easy access to PointCast's viewership made supporting 'Connections' an obvious choice," said Lisa Girolimetti, online marketing manager of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Britannica Online is a comprehensive and authoritative resource for educational institutions, researchers and families alike. Connections will be a powerful way to attract new subscribers to our service, and because it supports user authentication, we'll have the ability to reach our current customers as well."

The benefits delivered to Connections viewers are also significant. Unlike "push" technologies which offer users fragmented islands of information, the PointCast Network's integrated news and information service provides Connections viewers with a consistent, TV-like user interface enabling them to easily digest the information being broadcast.

IT Managers Retain Full Control

The broad appeal of Connections and the forecast widespread adoption of this publishing paradigm does not come at the expense of IT control over the corporate network. PointCast Connections gives IT managers the ability to control all of the following from any standard web server: Determine whether the Connections channel is on or off Set mandatory, recommended and/or optional Connections Broadcast all Connections, or filter for Connections with specific RSAC ratings for language, violence, nudity and sex

"PointCast Connections provides a powerful two-way street for Houston Industries' communications needs: we can use Connections as an extranet to communicate with our customers, and our employees can receive important information from partner companies," said Bob Bertrand, programmer analyst of Houston Industries. "And what is critical for us, is that our IT group can manage the Connections information within the company."

Webcasters that have an active Connection by June 30, 1997 will be eligible to compete for 30 Connections Viewers' Choice Awards totaling more than $150,000 in value, including two 15-second and six 10-second Connections Spotlights. A Spotlight is an animated promotion that runs in the PointCast Connections ChannelViewer highlighting a webcaster's Connection.

Company Background

PointCast Incorporated was founded in 1992 to provide current news and information services to viewers and corporations via the Internet and corporate intranets. Since PointCast launched the PointCast Network in February 1996, the company has won more than forty industry awards and honors, including CNET's Best Internet Application, PC Magazine's Technical Excellence award and PC Computing's Most Valuable Product award. The company's flagship product, the PointCast Network, can be downloaded for free at http://www.pointcast.com.

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