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Bandai to Provide Content for Amazon Unbox

BANDAI CHANNEL INC. AND BANDAI ENTERTAINMENT INC. TO PROVIDE CONTENT FOR “AMAZON UNBOX,” AMAZON.COM'S NEW ONLINE DISTRIBUTION SERVICE; GUNDAM SEED AND OTHER TITLES TO BE OFFERED

September 11, 2006—Tokyo, Japan. Bandai Channel, the on-demand video distributor of the Bandai Namco Group (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; President Satoru Matsumoto) and Bandai Entertainment, INC., one of North America's leading distributors of anime for broadcast and DVD (headquartered in Los Angeles, California; President Ken Iyadomi) announced today that they will provide anime content for “Amazon Unbox,” a high-quality digital video distribution service that will launch on September 7th (US time) from Amazon.com Inc. (headquartered in Seattle, Washington, USA).

With “Amazon Unbox,” Bandai Namco and others will have a new platform through which their content will be sold. At the launch of this service, Bandai Namco Group will be the only Japanese corporation which has its own branded site “Bandai Channel,” through which will be offered the popular anime series -Mobile Suit Gundam Seed, Outlaw Star, Infinite Ryvius and Escaflowne. This will be followed by other anime series including: Eureka Seven and Gundam Seed Destiny. More titles will be offered.

As part of this project, in addition to providing anime content owned by the Bandai Group companies and others, Bandai Channel will lend its expertise in on-demand distribution including such topics as conversion of content to online formats and protection of copyrights. Similarly, Bandai Entertainment, INC. will bring its vast experience in the North American video and television business.

In Japan, Bandai Channel digitally distributed (via on-demand) the TV series Mobile Suit Gundam Seed and Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny at the same time as their TV broadcasts. With the additional on-demand venues, these titles gained more recognition and popularity, and thus Bandai created excellent synergy for the Gundam property with packaged products and other merchandizing efforts. Bandai Namco Group sells toys, DVDs and game software in the North American market and will keep pursuing such synergy by coordinating digital video distribution and other marketing efforts and raising the overall awareness of its properties. In the U.S., Bandai Entertainment launched a program of streaming each new episode of the popular series Eureka Seven, following the television broadcast of the same episode, expanding the opportunities for U.S. viewers to watch the series.

The following titles will be part of “Amazon Unbox's” Bandai Channel:

Eureka Seven TV series)

Mobile Suit Gundam Seed TV series)

Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny TV series)

Escaflowne TV series/theatrical feature)

Mobile Fighter G Gundam TV series)

Witch Hunter Robin TV series)

My HiME (TV series)

SD Gundam Force TV series)

About “Amazon Unbox”

A high-quality download video distribution service which will begin Setember 7th (US time) in the United States from Amazon.com). TV episodes from the United States and other countries will be sold at the price of $1.99 per program.

About Bandai Namco Group:

An entertainment conglomerate created through a merger of Bandai Inc. and Namco Inc. in September 2005, involving a wide range of business operations such as toys, amusement facilities, game software, arcade game machine, film/video production, sales of packaged video programs (DVDs), mobile content, and much more...

About Bandai Channel Inc.:

Bandai Channel digitally distributes (via on-demand) many excellent anime titles produced by Bandai-Namco group companies and other partners. Since this service began in October 2002, there are more than 300 titles (about 4,400 episodes) available at Bandai Channel sites as of August 2006. At the end of July 2006, Bandai Channel has already sold more than 27 million episodes. Besides those titles from the Bandai-Namco Group companies, Bandai Channel plans to distribute titles from other partners. In the future, Bandai Channel is going to produce direct-to-broadband titles besides those already produced for other media. Also Bandai Channel plans to distribute not only to PCs but also to other devices.

About Bandai Entertainment, INC.:

Bandai Entertainment, INC. is a subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings (USA) Inc. and the premier distributor of Japanese animation on DVD and programming for television broadcast in North America. Additional company and product information is available through our website at www.bandai-ent.com.

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