02 FEB 03: SCI FI GETS INTO THE GATE WITH SEVENTH ORIGINAL SEASON OF STARGATE SG-1

Production Begins in Vancouver on February 17
Series Continues To Fuel SCI FI's Winter Ratings

Production began Monday on the seventh season of SCI FI Channel's top-rated original series, Stargate SG-1 in Vancouver. A ratings powerhouse for the Channel, SG-1 continues to score high with viewers, both in its original episodes and in its off-Showtime episodes.

On January 10, the series' "Winter Premiere" delivered a powerful1.7/1,391,000HH (1). The show continued to flex its ratings muscle throughout the month, peaking at 1.9/1,546,000HH (2), and earning a 1.7/1,335,000HH (3) average for January — a 70% improvement over the time period average for January 2002. This is the strongest January performance of any show in SCI FI Channel history.

SCI FI's Monday night Stargate SG-1 stack, featuring four back-to-back episodes from past seasons, scored a 1.4 average for the same month, making it the second highest-rated night of the week following SCI FI Fridays (4).

Stargate SG-1 follows the adventures of Air Force Colonel Jack O'Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) and his team. Together, they travel through the Stargate - an ancient portal that allows instantaneous travel across the galaxy. Co-stars include Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge and Don S. Davis. Led by Colonel Jack O'Neill, the team continues to explore uncharted regions of the universe and search for clues to save the Earth from destruction.

The show's seventh season (the second original season produced exclusively for SCI FI), will feature the hotly anticipated return of the beloved character "Daniel Jackson," with Michael Shanks reprising his role.

Reaching a milestone seventh season, Stargate SG-1 is now among the longest-running sci-fi series in the history of television. Produced by Kawoosh Productions and distributed by MGM Worldwide Television Distribution, the show centers on the Stargate, an ancient portal that allows instantaneous travel across the galaxy. The series is executive produced by Robert Cooper, Michael Greenburg and Richard Dean Anderson. Brad Wright will segue from executive producer to consultant.

SCI FI Channel transmits fantastic images to 80 million human homes. Launched in 1992, SCI FI features a continuous stream of cinematic hits, new and original series, and special events, as well as classic sci-fi, fantasy, and horror programming. Check out SCIFI.COM®, the SCI FI Channel's award-winning Web site, at www.scifi.com. SCI FI Channel is a program service of Universal Television Group, a division of Vivendi UNIVERSAL Entertainment (VUE), the U.S.-based film, television and recreation entity of Vivendi Universal, a global media and communications company.

(1) source: Nielsen Media Research/Galaxy Explorer, 1/10/03, 9-10PM cvg area rating
(2) source: NMR/Galaxy, 1/24/03, 9-10PM cvg area rating
(3) source: NMR/Galaxy, Friday 9-10PM cvg area rating average, 1/10/03-1/31/03
(4) source: NMR/Galaxy, Monday 7-11PM cvg area rating average, 12/30/02-1/20/03

Read at SCI FI's Stargate website