? The Group made a profit of approximately HK$40,475,000 during the three months ending 31 March 2004, a dramatic turn-around when compared with a loss of HK$20,809,000 in the same period last year.

? Revenue for the period increased to approximately HK$284,578,000, which represented a rise of 64.1% over the same period last year. Advertising revenue shot up by 81.4%.

? The performance of InfoNews was especially outstanding, with revenue increasing almost 18-fold as against the same period last year.

? Earnings per share were recorded at HK cents 0.82, compared with a loss of HK cents 0.42 in the same period last year.

The Phoenix Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Liu Changle, said that this dramatic turn-around in the Group’s performance, producing a handsome profit, demonstrated Phoenix’s commercial viability, and the overall Phoenix concept as a multi-channel platform has received extensive support. “Phoenix introduced a new advertising sales arrangement for selling to mainland customers at the beginning of this quarter, and as foreshadowed in our last company report, the resulting surge in revenue has enabled Phoenix to generate a profit after three years of loss-making.”

Liu Changle said that he was personally extremely gratified that the most encouraging aspect of this turn-around has been the performance of InfoNews, the revenue of which increased from approximately HK$2,504,000 in the same period last year to approximately HK$44,757,000 this quarter. “This proves that the Chinese audience has an appetite for news, and that news programming can make commercial sense in the Chinese market,” he said.

Liu Changle also emphasised that Phoenix has maintained its reputation for being one of the most innovative and popular television channels available to the Chinese audience. This has been achieved by striving to provide new entertainment and informative programmes that cater to the tastes of the Chinese-speaking audience in Mainland China and beyond.

Phoenix has also remained the leading broadcaster of international news in the Chinese market. Phoenix has consistently followed major world developments, including the political violence in Iraq, the Taiwan elections, the North Korean nuclear problem, and the evolution of China/United States relations.

Phoenix celebrated its eighth anniversary in March this year, and utilized this occasion as an opportunity to enhance the awareness of its brand name. Phoenix held a major celebration in Beijing as the capital of Phoenix’s largest market, and also mounted an elaborate event in Malaysia to recognize the support Phoenix has received from overseas Chinese audiences, the largest of which is in Malaysia.

FINANCIAL DETAILS

Revenue of the Group for the three months ended 31 March 2004 reached a record high of approximately HK$284,578,000. It represented an encouraging increase of approximately HK$111,174,000, or 64.1%, over the same period last year. Advertising revenue, which represented 94.3% of the Group’s total revenue, increased by approximately HK$120,431,000, or 81.4%. This increase was mainly attributable to the success of the newly implemented multiple agencies model in advertising sales.

Operating costs increased by 24.1% to approximately HK$246,629,000 as compared with the same period last year. As the Group has a relatively stable costs structure, the increase in costs was mainly due to the increase of commission expenses incurred by the rise in advertising revenue. The Group’s profit from operations and profit attributable to shareholders for the three months ended 31 March 2004 were approximately HK$37,949,000 and HK$40,475,000 respectively. As compared to a loss from operations of approximately HK$25,380,000 and a loss attributable to shareholders of approximately HK$20,809,000 in the same period last year, there were significant improvements of approximately HK$63,329,000 and HK$61,284,000 respectively.

Phoenix Chinese Channel remained by far the most important source of revenue for the Group, accounting for 78.3% of the Group’s total revenue. It’s revenue increased by 53.1% as compared to the same period last year, and its operating profit doubled to approximately HK$86,720,000. The performance of Phoenix InfoNews Channel displayed a significant improvement. Revenue jumped to approximately HK$44,757,000 as compared to approximately HK$2,504,000 in the same period last year. Operating loss was thereby decreased substantially to approximately HK$1,701,000, or by 94.3%.

PROSPECTS

This quarter’s results confirm that Phoenix is pursuing a highly effective strategy, combining innovative and creative programming with a flexible approach to the sale of advertising. The performance of InfoNews was especially encouraging. While the high-cost nature of InfoNews means that it still makes a loss, the dramatic rise in income this quarter demonstrates that it will probably pass the break-even mark in the near future.

The factors that led to the dramatic turn around in Phoenix’s performance should continue to enhance Phoenix’s performance over the remainder of the current financial year and beyond. Despite talk of overheating, the Chinese economy remains extremely buoyant. Many of our advertising clients are in the consumer product industry and should remain largely unaffected by any potential economic slow down which could be brought about by government attempts to cool the economy. At the same time Phoenix has continued to expand its influence among the overseas Chinese with a particular emphasis in the South East Asia region. The management is consequently extremely confident that Phoenix will continue to make a profit for the foreseeable future.

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ABOUT PHOENIX

Phoenix Chinese Channel was launched on 31 March, 1996, with the aim of offering quality content to Chinese communities around the world. The dynamism of this massive market, combined with successful expansion strategies, has allowed Phoenix to develop a comprehensive multi-channel platform. Today, Phoenix Chinese, Phoenix Movies, Phoenix InfoNews, Phoenix Chinese News and Entertainment and Phoenix North America Chinese channels together broadcast to audiences in the Asia Pacific, as well as in Europe, North America and North Africa, covering more than 90 countries and regions. The mission of the group is to offer varied, high-quality content to the global Chinese population.

Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings Limited was listed on the SEHK Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) on 30 June 2000.

For more information, please contact: -

Corporate Affairs and Publicity Department

Phoenix Satellite Television Company Limited

Ms Annie Wan Tel: +852 2621 9566 Email: anniew@startv.com

Ms Lizzie Cheung Tel: +852 2621 7480 Email: siului@startv.com

Mr Charlie Lam Tel: +852 2621 7403 Email: charlie@startv.com

Further information about Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings Limited can be found at www.ifeng.com and www.hkgem.com