NEWS FROM OCADO

ONLINE SUPERMARKET LOOKING TO DELIVER MOO-RE

Ocado launches live animal delivery service

EMBARGOED – 00.01 1^ST April 2012

ONLINE SUPERMARKET, Ocado, opens the UK’s first web ‘Livestock-Shop’ this weekend. Proving that fresh really is best, the new delivery service, in partnership with Daylesford organic farm, will provide customers with a number of live farm animals to produce their own milk and eggs. All available to order from Sunday, 1^st April.

The modern day ‘Tom and Barbara’, seeking out The Good Life, will be impressed with Ocado’s offering of livestock from Daylesford’s organic farm in Gloucestershire. Ranging from a single chicken, to a flock of rare hens, and even cows, the online grocer’s fifteenth ‘shop in shop’ caters to those looking to have the freshest produce delivered straight to their door.

To ensure that all animals go to the right ‘farmer’, potential buyers will have their property inspected by the new Ocado farm team, headed by Daylesford’s Senior Farm Manager, Richard Smith. Once homes have been found fit, the in-house team will provide buyers with invaluable urban farm knowledge - from building chicken coops, to milking a cow.

The newly developed Ocado farm van provides a spacious environment for the livestock travelling from the heart of Gloucestershire. Fitted with fresh grass from the West Country and incorporating a state-of-the-art shower spritz and drying system, the farm animals will be truly fresh when they arrive at their new grazing ground.

Following the success of their first online farmshop, launched on Ocado.com in September 2011, Daylesford CEO, Jamie Mitchell, said: “There is a growing market of allotment owners who want to produce more than boring runner beans and cabbages. At Daylesford, we are lucky enough to farm 2,000 acres in the Cotswolds, and wish to give Ocado shoppers the opportunity to farm their own animals, giving them the freshest milk and eggs.”

Ocado co-founder, Jason Gissing commented: “Ocado is dedicated to making life easier for its customers and, on our mission to becoming a food emporium, we strive to provide our shoppers with more of what they want.

“Just like our customers, we strongly believe that fresh is the best, hence why our fresh fruit and vegetables are already handled less than they would be at a traditional supermarket - fresh produce is touched only once or twice before being delivered. It’s also why we guarantee that we’ll never sell products right up to their 'use by' date. Ocado’s Daylesford Livestock-Shop is the next step in providing our shoppers with the freshest produce available.”

Prices are as follows:

·         Daylesford Legbar Hen - £25

·         Heritage Gloucestershire Cow - £1000 to £1500

·         British Friedian Cow - £1000 to £2000

ENDS

For further information contact:

Rochelle Collison, Frank PR Tel: 020 7693 7496

Email: rochellecollison@frankpr.it

Notes to Editors:

About Ocado:

Ocado (http://www.ocado.com) was established in 2000, started trading in 2002 and is now one of Britain’s leading online supermarkets. Ocado operates a centralised distribution model which means that it does not rely upon a network of stores from which to service customers. Ocado delivers over 21,000 product lines including Waitrose goods and a growing Ocado own-label range. In June 2010, it scooped Online Retailer of the Year at The Grocer Gold Awards 2010 and Customer Technology of the Year at the BT Retail Week Technology Awards 2010. In October 2010 it was named World E-tailer of the Year at the prestigious World Retail Awards.

About Daylesford (www.daylesfordorganic.com)

· At Daylesford, we have been farming organically for over 25 years with the simple passion for real food.

· We are committed to organic and sustainable farming: we believe that it is better for us, our animals, the environment, and of course always tastes better...

· In the last 3 years Daylesford has won over 60 national and international awards from all areas of the farm. These include the Soil Association Awards, British Cheese Awards, World Cheese Awards, Great Taste Awards and FARMA.

· Buying direct from farms cuts out the industry ‘middle-men’, ensuring customers know the exact provenance of their food, and allowing producers like Daylesford to bring great value artisan products to market. Daylesford’s prices are always competitive, whether comparing against organic food in the supermarkets, or other high quality produce from specialist retailers

NEWS FROM HOTELS.COM

Hotels.com

Hotels.com will today (1^st April) launch a state of the art addition to its popular iPad application which they hope will ‘collar’ the app market in the UK. The Hotels.com ‘iPaw’ app allows dogs to browse some of the best hotels across the globe from the comfort of their own baskets and is hoped to leave users wagging their tails for more.

NEWS FROM GRAZE.COM

Nice One Squirrel - Healthy snacks company graze.com has today (1^st April) defended its 'nuts' recruitment policy, having replaced one of its key staff with a four-year old woodland squirrel named Hazel.

The move, designed to ensure quality control of its fresh and natural ingredients, will see Hazel take up the fool-time post of chief nut tester, whilst current incumbent Flora Pilo is moved to another part of the growing business.

NEWS FROM THE ECB

ECB TURN BULLDOGS TO BALL-DOGS

British Bulldogs will know no boundaries this summer

The ECB today announced that British Bulldogs will be shrugging off their lazy reputation this summer, as they take up a fetching role in this season’s Friends Life t20 competition.

This summer will see an army of the loveable dogs dotted around the boundaries of the nation’s cricket grounds, with the sole purpose of returning balls that have been dispatched over the boundary.

The move comes after a players’ consultation revealed that unnecessary chases over the boundary were increasing the risk of injury and sapping energy during the games.

The ECB have consulted a series of dog experts to ensure that the Bulldogs are fully prepared for their role, both from a physical and psychological perspective. Considerations have also had to be taken with regards to maintaining the condition of the ball.

Paul Taylor, in charge of training the Bulldogs, commented;

“Bulldogs are traditionally considered a lazier breed of dogs, but they’ve proven to be a great hit so far in training. Their low centre of gravity makes for a more efficient pick up and their sturdy build means they are less risk adverse than say, a poodle.

“There have of course been some unforeseen difficulties, most notably the toilet habits of the average British Bulldog. However, the Bulldogs have now been trained to ensure that they do not relieve themselves on the playing surface and dog handlers will on hand at all times as an extra precaution.”

Steve Elworthy, ECB spokesperson said;

“Cricket encapsulates all that is right about Britishness and we wanted to take this a step further with the introduction of the ultimate British dog.

“Friends Life t20 is all about doing something different and we’re proud to try something that will save the players exerting unnecessary energy and risking injury, while also providing added entertainment to the action on the pitch.”

For more information about the Bulldogs, the ECB or Friends Life t20 please contact:

Greg Double on 020 7693 6999 or email ecb@frankpr.it

-ENDS-

Notes to editor:

·          A t20 game involves two teams; each has a single innings batting for a maximum of 20 overs.

·         A t20 game is completed in about two and a half hours, with each innings lasting around 75 minutes.

·         This Friends Life t20 competition begins on Tuesday 12^th June with three groups of six teams competing for a place in the quarter finals. The top two of each group, plus the two best third place teams qualify for the quarter finals. Winners of the four quarter finals progress to Finals Day where both semi-finals and the final are played.

NEWS FROM FOOD NETWORK

TV TO TUNE YOUR NOSE TO

Smell-o-vision technology now available through UK TV screens

Forget 3D-TV, the latest in sensory viewing is Smell-o-vision. The most anticipated TV technology has been developed and is being launched through leading food entertainment channel Food Network UK.

Smell-o-vision technology will enable all viewers with a standard digital TV set to experience not only the tempting visuals that appear on the Food Network UK channel, but also the full smell of all dishes prepared in the studio.

The innovative TV channel has been working with technology pioneer, Ralph Loopi, who previously helped develop the mini-disc, Segway and no-touch taps, for almost two years to get the technology off the ground. Trials have already taken place in Singapore and smells will be broadcast for the first time in the UK to tie in with the launch of a new series of Diners, Drive-In’s and Dives. Popular smells from traditional American diners such as burgers, hot dogs and onion rings will be transmitted to viewers.

Nick Thorogood, managing director of Food Network EMEA said: “It is one thing to get viewers mouths watering seeing all the delicious foods our chefs make on the channel, but we wanted to bring viewers an even better experience by giving them the opportunity to enjoy the fantastic smells created in our kitchens so have been working hard since we launched almost two years ago to get Smell-o-Vision off the ground.

“We’re sure that by experiencing all the different smells of the food on our channel, viewers will be even more likely to go to the kitchen and try and make the recipes for themselves.”

Ralph Loopi, who has spearheaded the research to launch Smell-o-vision, said: “It is a great achievement to be able to finally launch Smell-o-vision to the UK market. It has taken many years of research to ascertain which of the 1,600 smells the human nose can detect, that can be digitally captured and transmitted in exact proportions to the viewer. I am delighted to be able to say that we are now able to reproduce 98% of culinary aromas for the launch of Food Network’s Smell-o-vision.”

Food Network UK claims to have perfected the technology, but is not the first to have attempted Smell-O-Vision. In 1940 Walt Disney looked to introduced scents for viewers in his film Fantasia but didn’t succeed due to cost implications and more recently, the BBC successfully created a scratch and sniff smell-o-vision but this newest offering provides the smells straight from the TV screen rather than smelling a piece of cardboard.

To receive Smell-o-vision viewers need to re-tune their TV ahead of the digital switchover on 4^th April 2012 and go to the Food Network UK channel – channel 49 on Freeview or 262/263 on Sky

Food Network UK’s “In the Kitchen” mobile application is available for iPhone, but not, so far with Smell-o-Vision.

-Ends-

For further information please contact Frank PR on 0207 693 6999 or email foodnetwork@frankpr.it

Notes to Editors

About Food Network UK

Food Network delivers a fresh approach to food programming and celebrates everything that is bold, fun and entertaining about the genre. It is not your typical ‘how to’ cooking channel. It is one of the fastest growing lifestyle and entertainment brands on Sky 262/263 (Freesat 405/406) and now Freeview channel 49, packed with award-winning cooking and competition shows. Foodnetwork.co.uk is the 24/7 companion to the TV channel. Find daily TV listings, episode guides, chef biographies, recipes featured on air, blog posts and more. Recipes are organised by season, ingredient, chef, course, and cuisine make meal planning easy.

Food Network UK’s “In the Kitchen” mobile application for the iPhone is the latest way to enjoy food on-the-go, with hundreds of recipes just a tap away. Wondering what to cook for dinner tonight? Let “In the Kitchen” plan the meal for you.

Food Network UK is owned by Scripps Networks Interactive (SNI), one of the leading developers of lifestyle content for the television and internet worldwide. Its sister brand Food Network is one of the most popular networks on US television and www.foodnetwork.com is the leading food website in the US.

Find us on: www.foodnetwork.co.uk and sign up for our weekly food newsletter or join us @foodnetwork_uk on Twitter and facebook.com/FoodNetworkUK.

About Scripps Networks Interactive

Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE: SNI) is a leading developer of lifestyle-oriented content for television and the Internet, where on-air programming is complemented with online video, social media areas and e-commerce components on companion Web sites and broadband vertical channels. The company's media portfolio includes Lifestyle Media, which comprises popular lifestyle television and Internet brands HGTV, DIY Network, Food Network, Cooking Channel, Travel Channel and country music network Great American Country; and Interactive Services, with leading online search and comparison shopping services bizrate and beso.