Charter Communications to LAUNCH DIVA's Video-on-Demand Service in Los Angeles

ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 4, 2000--

DIVA and Charter Sign Largest VOD Deal Ever

Agreement Includes Expanded Rollout of VOD in Atlanta Area

Continuing to lead the evolution of home entertainment services, Charter Communications Inc. (Nasdaq:CHTR), the nation's fourth-largest cable operator, today announced it will commercially launch DIVA's video-on-demand (VOD) service to its Los Angeles service area. The wide-ranging deployment agreement signed by the two companies also includes an expanded rollout of VOD to Charter's customers in the Atlanta area as well as future markets.

The VOD agreement covers hardware, software, programming and operations support from DIVA, which will provide upgrades of its VOD hardware and software, as they become available for commercial use. The agreement also gives Charter a specified number of warrants for DIVA stock.

Charter will initially roll out the service to its Los Angeles customers in the next 90 days. Charter expects to offer the service to L.A.-area customers as a standard feature of the company's Charter Digital Cable(TM) package. The VOD service will be available to customers via a Scientific-Atlanta Explorer digital set-top receiver in communities including Pasadena, Alhambra, Monterey Park, Glendale, Burbank and Long Beach.

"We take great pride in launching our video-on-demand service in Los Angeles, a city that's known around the world as the birthplace and home to the movie and video industry," said Jerald L. Kent, president and chief executive officer of Charter Communications. "This deployment is the largest commitment to VOD and represents another major step in Charter's Wired World vision to bring the power of computing and the convenience of interactivity to the television."

With DIVA's VOD service, more than 1.2 million homes in Charter's Los Angeles service area will be capable of instantly accessing hundreds of the latest Hollywood movies, classic "library" titles, and an outstanding package of children's and family programming. In addition, Charter will offer a trial menu of selected local programming, such as city government, school information or local business infomercials. The DIVA service offers subscribers full VCR-functionality, including pause, fast-forward and rewind options.

"This video-on-demand service is built with convenience and today's busy lifestyles in mind," Kent said. "VOD offers more control over viewing times and preferences and eliminates the trip to the video store and, more importantly, the return trip. Plus, few of us can watch an entire movie without some kind of interruption. With this service, customers will have all the functions of a VCR combined with superior digital cable picture quality. That means customers can stop, pause, rewind and fast forward programs they select. They also can stop a program and start watching it several hours later."

"This is the largest commitment to deploy VOD in the history of the cable industry," said David Zucker, president and CEO of DIVA. "These deployments significantly build upon an already successful relationship with Charter and underscore our ability to help Charter provide its customers with the benefits of tomorrow's technology right now. DIVA was the first VOD provider to commercially deploy video-on-demand with several different cable operators and this new Charter agreement is further testimony to the commercial viability and scalability of our video-on-demand TV products and services."

Charter and DIVA have been working together for more than a year on a VOD trial near Atlanta in Duluth, Ga. In that trial, about 500 customers have been using the DIVA VOD service in conjunction with their Charter Digital Cable service. Under this agreement, the companies will offer the service to all of Charter's customers in Duluth.

About Charter Communications

Charter Communications, a Wired World(TM) company, is among the country's leading broadband communications companies. Charter serves approximately 6.2 million customers. Charter offers an array of services including cable television under the Charter brand; high-speed Internet access via Charter Pipeline(TM); advanced digital video programming services under the Charter Digital Cable(TM) brand and Charter Paging(TM). Charter is traded on the NASDAQ National Market under the ticker symbol "CHTR." More information about Charter can be accessed on the Internet at www.chartercom.com.

About DIVA

DIVA Systems Corporation ( www.divatv.com ) is a privately held company founded in June 1995 and is headquartered in Redwood City, Calif. DIVA commercially launched its digital video-on-demand (VOD) service in cable television systems in the fall of 1997 and is the only company currently deploying an end-to-end video-on-demand service in North America. As a leading provider of interactive VOD products and services for the cable television industry, DIVA provides the hardware, software, back office and integration expertise to enable cable companies to provide their customers with immediate, affordable access to hundreds of viewing choices including feature films, children's programming and specialty shows, via their remote control. DIVA has also recently introduced an interactive program guide (IPG) as a stand-alone product that allows television viewers to search and access viewing choices in real-time. DIVA's interactive video-on-demand products and services are now deployed in seven cable systems in the U.S. with multiple system operators including Charter Communications, Insight Communications and MediaOne. DIVA has also established relationships with leading industry participants, including content providers such as Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures, Fox and Disney, manufacturers of digital set-top boxes, providers of application managers and set-top box operating systems and billing system providers.

"Safe Harbor" Statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this press release regarding Charter Communications' business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Prospectus.

This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to DIVA, including but not limited to, the ability of DIVA to provide large scale deployment of its video-on-demand products and services to Charter's customers effectively and in a timely manner. Actual results may vary from anticipated results and such differences may be material, based on a number of factors, including the commercial viability and scalability of DIVA's video-on-demand products and the extent of Charter's deployment of these products and services, and other factors as described in DIVA's Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 1999 and DIVA's Form 10-Q for the quarters ended September 30, 1999 and December 31, 1999.

CONTACT: Charter Communications
Anita Lamont, 314/543-2215
alamont@chartercom.com
Andy Morgan, 314/543-2217
amorgan@chartercom.com
or
DIVA
Patrick J. Gushman, 650/779-3075
pat.gushman@divatv.com
Georgeann H. Ikuma, 650/779-3086
georgeann.ikuma@divatv.com