Western New York Public Broadcasting Association and Educate, Inc. Announce New Reading Rainbow Partnership

Agreement Ensures the Future of Critically-acclaimed PBS KIDS Series 


BUFFALO, N.Y. and BALTIMORE, March 7  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Western New York Public Broadcasting Association (WNED) and Educate Inc. announced today an agreement that will secure the future of Reading Rainbow, one of the longest-running and best-loved children's series on PBS KIDS.  Winner of nine Emmy Awards for Outstanding Children's Series, most recently in 2005, Reading Rainbow is designed to inspire children's love of reading and to build lasting connections between children and books.  Despite being one of the most widely used children's television series by teachers in schools, Reading Rainbow has struggled in recent years to find adequate long term funding resources.  The new partnership between WNED and Educate will guarantee that millions of children, parents and teachers will continue to enjoy and benefit from Reading Rainbow.

The University of Nebraska Board of Regents approved the sale of the Nebraska ETV Network's production interest in the series to the Western New York Public Broadcasting Association on March 3rd.  Educate, Inc. has executed a co-production agreement with WNED for Reading Rainbow.  WNED, a co-founder and original co-producer of the series, will continue on as co-producer and liaison to the PBS system.  Agreements have been executed by all parties and closings are expected within a month.

"Our partnership with Educate, Inc. will preserve the educational legacy of Reading Rainbow for future generations of kids." said Donald K. Boswell, president and chief executive officer, WNED. "It brings happy closure to the long struggle to secure the funds needed to sustain the series.  From this point on we can focus all of our attention on producing engaging programs that help all children develop a love of reading."

Each week, over 2.1 million children, teachers and parents tune in to Reading Rainbow, which aims to build lasting friendships between young children and books.  Launched in 1983, it is the most-watched PBS program in the classroom featuring a library of over 148 programs.  The show has received international acclaim, garnering more than 250 awards, including a prestigious Peabody and nine Parent's Choice Awards.  In May 2005 the National Academy of Television Arts and Science recognized Reading Rainbow with four Emmys, bringing the series' Emmy total to 24.  Reading Rainbow is currently scheduled to air on PBS KIDS through September 2007.

"We're honored to partner with WNED, one of the original creators of Reading Rainbow and a leading public television station," said Chris Hoehn-Saric, chairman and chief executive officer of Educate, Inc, a leading pre-K-12 education services company.  "This is a wonderful opportunity to combine our expertise in helping kids learn to make this beloved series even more effective, engaging and relevant for today's kids."

Educate, Inc. delivers education services and products to students and their families through well-known, trusted brands including Sylvan Learning Centers, Hooked on Phonics, and Catapult.  "The addition of another high profile, quality educational brand to our portfolio complements Educate Inc.'s mission to provide a variety and breadth of products and services to meet growing consumer education needs." said Hoehn-Saric.

As part of Educate, Inc.'s expansion into educational broadcast media, the company recently hired vice president of education and strategy Jinny Goldstein.  As former vice president of education at PBS, Goldstein brings more than 25 years experience improving the accessibility and quality of education. Goldstein will lead Educate Inc.'s partnership with WNED-TV and PBS.

"Reading Rainbow has always been a credible learning resource that we've been proud to host for over 23 years," said John F. Wilson, senior vice president and co-chief program executive, PBS.  "We're excited to see this combination of educational experts come together to ensure the show's continued success."

As part of Educate's mission to provide effective and engaging learning tools to parents and students, the company is also acquiring Great Plains National Instructional Library (GPN), the largest non-profit educators' source for classroom-use video and interactive media learning packages from the University of Nebraska.  The University of Nebraska Board of Regents also approved the sale of GPN to Educate, Inc. on March 3, 2006.

Educate has also hired Dan Hamby, a 25-year veteran of the media industry and a former Public Broadcasting Service executive, as general manager, GPN. Hamby previously worked as vice president of PBS consumer products, managing the organization's licensed merchandise, publishing, home video and direct-to-consumer distribution efforts.  He will work closely with national producers, as well as with renowned independent filmmakers to bring their programming to consumers and educators.

About WNED Buffalo/Toronto

Through WNED-TV, ThinkBright TV, Classical 94.5/WNED-FM and WNED-AM 970 The Information Station, the member-supported Western New York Public Broadcasting Association provides high quality programming and services that enlighten, inspire, entertain and educate our communities.  Additional information about WNED can be found at http://www.wned.org/.

About Educate, Inc.

Educate, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEEE) is a leading pre-K-12 education services company delivering education services and products to students and their families.  It has a portfolio of highly acclaimed brands including Sylvan Learning Centers, North America's largest and most trusted network of tutoring centers, providing supplemental, remedial and enrichment instruction; Hooked on Phonics, delivering highly regarded early reading, math and study skills programs; and Catapult Learning, a leading provider of educational services to public and non-public schools.  More information on Educate, Inc. can be found at http://www.educate-inc.com/.

Forward-looking Statements

This release includes information about Educate, Inc. that could constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "estimate," "expect," "will," "should," "may" and similar expressions, or the negative of such words and expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward- looking statements contain such words or expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Although Educate, Inc. believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, Educate, Inc.'s actual results could differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The following factors might cause such a difference: the development and expansion of the Sylvan Learning Center franchise system; changes in the relationships among Sylvan Learning Center and its franchisees; Educate, Inc.'s ability to effectively manage business growth; increased competition from other educational service providers; changes in laws and government policies and programs; changes in the acceptance of Educate, Inc.'s services and products by institutional customers and consumers; changes in customer relationships; acceptance of new programs, services and products by institutional customers and consumers; the seasonality of operating results; global economic conditions, including interest and currency rate fluctuations, and inflation rates. Additional information regarding these and other risk factors and uncertainties are set forth from time to time in Educate, Inc.'s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available for viewing on Educate, Inc.'s website http://www.educate-inc.com/. (To access this information on Educate, Inc.'s website, click on "Investor Relations" and then "SEC Filings".) All forward-looking statements are based on information available to Educate, Inc. on the date of this Release. Educate, Inc. undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. 

DATASOURCE: Educate, Inc.



CONTACT: Cathleen Porter of Mullen for Educate, Inc. [phone],

; or Dawn Hamilton of WNED, [phone],





Web site:  http://www.educate-inc.com/

http://www.wned.org/ 

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