PEKKA KARHUVAARA APPOINTED PRESIDENT OF MTV OY FROM 10 DEC. 2001

ALMA MEDIA STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE 5 DEC. 2001, 9.30

PEKKA KARHUVAARA APPOINTED PRESIDENT OF MTV OY FROM 10 DEC. 2001

Mr Pekka Karhuvaara, executive editor-in-chief of Iltalehti, has
been appointed President of Alma Media Corporation’s subsidiary
MTV Oy and a member of Alma Media’s Group Executive Board. Mr
Petri Hakala, Iltalehti’s current editor-in-chief, has been named
Executive Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper. At the same time a new
Board of Directors has been appointed for MTV Oy, chaired by Matti
Packalén. These appointments come into force on 10 December 2001.

Alma Media Corporation’s largest subsidiary, MTV Oy, is to have a
new president. Mr Pekka Karhuvaara (47), currently executive
editor-in-chief of Iltalehti, has been appointed President of MTV
Oy from 10 December 2001. At the same time he also joins Alma
Media’s Group Executive Board. He will be succeeded as executive
editor-in-chief of Iltalehti on 10 December 2001 by Iltalehti’s
current editor-in-chief Petri Hakala (39), who has held this
position since 1995. Mr Hakala was previously editorial manager of
Iltalehti. Mr Veli-Matti Asikainen, executive vice president of
Alpress Oy, remains in the position of President of Iltalehti. MTV
Oy’s current president, Mr Ilkka Kylmälä, will leave Alma Media.

In conjunction with these appointments a new Board of Directors
has been established for MTV Oy. From 10 December 2001 MTV Oy’s
new Board of Directors will comprise Juha Blomster, President of
Alma Media’s Business Information Group, Pekka Karhuvaara,
President of MTV Oy, Torsten Larsson, President of Bonnier
Entertainment, Jorma Sairanen, Director of MTV3 Channel
programming, and Matti Packalén, President and CEO of Alma Media
Group. The chairman of MTV’s new board will be Matti Packalén.

Pekka Karhuvaara, through his extremely broad experience of the
media sector, is well equipped to take responsibility for MTV Oy’s
operations. He has been executive editor-in-chief of Iltalehti
since 1994 and before that he held various positions in both
television and the print media. He also has experience of
corporate communications and has worked at the highest levels of
government communications, Mr .Matti Packalén says. “Iltalehti in
recent years has shown excellent growth both in circulation and
profitability. I believe that same positive development will
continue, because Mr. Petri Hakala, a new executive editor-in-
chief, has worked with the group’s newspapers since 1987 and has
directly contributed to Iltalehti’s position today as one of the
most popular and profitable media in Finland,ö

Further information: President and CEO Matti Packalén, Alma Media
Corporation, +358 9 507 8715

ALMA MEDIA CORPORATION

Ahti Martikainen
Vice President, Corporate Communications and Investor Relations

Distribution: HEX Helsinki Exchanges, Principal Media

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