AOL Introduces Beta Test of Chinese Language AOL.com Portal for United States Market

AOL today launched the first beta version of its new Chineselanguage AOL.com Web portal tailored to serve the needs of the ChineseAmerican and Chinese speaking community in the United States.

Created in both simplified and traditional Chinese characters,this site is available at http://aol.com/chinese and brings togetherWeb search, blogs and e-mail features with news from North America,Europe and Asia. The portal will also offer as many as 20 hours ofvideo content and programming at any given time, including free,full-length movies and episodes of popular TV shows from China,webcasts of sports events from China, and more.

"By creating this free language-specific portal, we can betterserve the millions of people in the United States who want access tofeatures like e-mail, search, entertainment, and news in one place, inChinese," said David Liu, Vice President and General Manager, AOL.com."This launch represents another phase in the evolution of the U.S.AOL.com Web portal and extends our effort to efficiently leverage ourWeb products, content, communities and services in a context thatbrings the most value to different segments of our users who sharecommon languages and cultural bonds."

Chinese Language AOL.com(R) Portal -- Free Features andFunctionality

AOL worked with ChinaPortal.com, a division of MediaZone (asubsidiary of Naspers) and a leading global provider of broadbandvideo programming for overseas Chinese, as a strategic partner toprovide the majority of content for this site covering news, sportsand entertainment, including exclusive programs and event webcastsfrom China.

"It's truly exciting to be involved in launching this site for thegrowing Chinese community here in the United States," said MichelleWu, COO, MediaZone. "We're proud to have been chosen to help craft arich, compelling offering which dovetails with AOL.com's exceptionalfeatures and extends ChinaPortal.com's service to a wider populationof this underserved market."

Free features and functionality offered with the beta version ofthe portal include:

* AOL(R) Web Mail and AIM(R) Mail services, currently in beta,that will work in simplified and traditional Chinese for users to readand write e-mail. Additional translation will be incorporated on themail interface soon.

* Video programming available for free with hours of new contentand entertainment every week in Chinese, including:

-- Full length movies from China that may include such choices as hit and classic movies, "Shanghai Story" and "Five Golden Flowers," and others;

-- Full length episodes of TV series from China that may include the hit drama, "Love Story of Hero & Beauty," the first Chinese sitcom, "I Love My Family," popular soap operas from China and Korea, and others;

-- Full length TV programs from China including in-depth news magazines, talk shows, variety shows, and more;

-- Webcasts of sports events in China covering soccer (FIFA, CSL, CSL Cup), basketball (CBA), table tennis, swimming, and others.

* AOL(R) Search, available in simplified and traditional Chinese.

* Popular blogs integrated from the Weblogs media network andavailable in Chinese, including Engadget about technology topics(http://chinese.engadget.com) and Autoblog, which covers automotivetopics (http://chinese.autoblog.com).

* News updated every hour with free text and images coveringChinese language news from North America, Europe, and Asia, includingthe PRC, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Availability: The initial beta version of the Chinese languageU.S. portal can be accessed directly at http://aol.com/chinese as wellas through the international services area of the free AOL.com webportal (http://aol.com).

About America Online, Inc.

America Online, Inc. and its subsidiaries operate a leadingnetwork of Web brands and the largest Internet access subscriptionservice in the United States. Brands include the AOL(R) service, theAOL.com(R) website, and the AIM(R), MapQuest(R), Moviefone(R),Netscape(R), CompuServe(R) and ICQ(R) services. America Online offersa range of digital services including the TotalTalk(TM) voice service.The company also has operations in Canada and Europe. America Online,Inc. is based in Dulles, Virginia, and is a wholly owned subsidiary ofTime Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX).