VH1 Classic Rock Doc ‘Iron Maiden: Flight 666′ Premieres Exclusively on VH1 Classic, Palladia and VH1 on Saturday, June 6

Acclaimed Film Will Air at 9:00 P.M.* on VH1 Classic and Palladia and 12 midnight on VH1

Join Iron Maiden on the Most Adventurous Rock Tour Ever as They Play 23 Huge Concerts on Five Continents in Just 45 Days, Flying 50,000 Miles on Their Customized Boeing 757 Piloted by Lead Singer Bruce Dickinson

NEW YORK, May 5 /PRNewswire/ — On February 8, 2008, British heavy rock legends Iron Maiden embarked on the most ambitious and adventurous tour in rock history. For the first time ever the band gave full access to a film crew to document their journey and this resulted in the critically acclaimed, full-length documentary film, “Iron Maiden: Flight 666.” Winner of the SXSW Festival Award for Best Music Documentary, the movie takes you along as part of the Maiden team on the first leg of the band’s historic Somewhere Back In Time World Tour, with Access All Area passes guaranteed!

Shot in spectacular High Definition with thunderous 5.1 surround sound, the film will be touching down exclusively on Saturday, June 6, (6-6) on VH1 Classic and Palladia — MTV Networks’ high-definition music channel at 9 p.m. and VH1 at 12 midnight.

Circumnavigating around the globe and five continents in just 45 days, the band flew in a specially customized Boeing 757 airliner, piloted by lead singer Bruce Dickinson. With the entire touring crew and 12 tons of music and stage equipment on board, Astraeus Airline Captain Dickinson and his air crew flew 50,000 miles, taking in 23 sold-out stadium and arena shows across Asia, Australia and North, Central and South America, performing to almost half a million fans in the process.

Comments Dickinson: “Having what is basically a flying ‘splitter bus’ with all our gear and crew on board allowed us to undertake a touring schedule the likes of which has never been attempted before. By being independent of flight and freight connections and schedules we could literally go where we wanted when we wanted. And so we did. It was quite a journey, exhausting at times with jet lag taking its toll, but our fans everywhere were magnificent which made all the effort and planning and time well worthwhile. It really was a unique experience until, that is, we did it again earlier this year!!”

The plane was christened “ED FORCE ONE” by their fans, after Iron Maiden mascot Eddie, a perennial fixture in the band’s album cover art as well as in their live shows.

“Iron Maiden: Flight 666″ is an inspirational account of the chaotic and often humorous world of a band touring the four corners of the world, giving a behind-the-scenes look at what happens on and off stage. Delivering some of the most spectacular live footage ever seen of the band, “Iron Maiden: Flight 666″ takes viewers from Mumbai to Santiago, L.A. to Sydney, Tokyo to Sao Paolo and many major cities between. Through drama, excitement and fan pandemonium, the film is an honest and revealing portrait of one of the world’s most successful rock bands.

“Iron Maiden: Flight 666″ is the newest film in the Emmy Award-winning VH1 Rock Doc franchise. VH1 Rock Docs are feature-length documentaries that tell unique stories of artists and music from a wide range of genres, styles, and musical perspectives.

“Iron Maiden: Flight 666″ was produced and directed by Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn for Banger Productions (who also made the award winning “Metal: A Headbangers Journey” and “Global Metal”). Victoria Hirst acted as co-producer with Rod Smallwood, Stefan Demetriou and Andy Taylor serving as executive producers.

About VH1 Classic

Launched in May 2000, VH1 Classic is a 24-hour network that presents videos, concerts and music specials all day long, featuring the best of rock, soul and pop artists from the 60s, 70s and 80s, including The Beatles, The Stones, Tina Turner, Led Zeppelin, Marvin Gaye, The Who, Stevie Wonder, The Police, Madonna and many more. Learn more at VH1Classic.com.

About Palladia

Palladia, MTV Networks’ high-definition music channel, launched in January 2006 and features original music-based programming for a variety of music genres, including hip hop, rock, country, pop, reggaeton, soul and more, as well as HDTV acquisitions and original content from MTV Networks Music Group’s MTV, VH1, and CMT family of services. The channel has grown to 12 million households and is available on major U.S. carriers including Comcast, Cox, Verizon FiOS, Time Warner, Dish, DIRECTV, Charter, AT&T u-Verse and Insight.

About VH1

VH1 connects viewers to the music, artists and pop culture that matter to them most with TV series, specials, live events, exclusive online content and public affairs initiatives. VH1 is available in 95 million households in the U.S. VH1 also has an array of digital channels and services including VH1 Classic, VH1 Soul, VH1 Mobile, VH1Games and extensive broadband video on VH1.com. Connect with VH1 at VH1.com.

MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. MTV Networks, with more than 130 channels worldwide, owns and operates the following television programming services — MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION, MTV2, VH1, mtvU, NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN, VH1 CLASSIC, LOGO, MTVN INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV NETWORKS, a package of 13 digital services, all of these networks trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks connects with its audiences through its robust consumer products businesses and its more than 150 interactive properties worldwide, including online, broadband, wireless and interactive television services and also has licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication deals whereby all of its programming services can be seen worldwide.

*all times ET/PT

    Contact:         Lori Bogin/VH1
                     212-846-7131
                     lori.bogin@vh1.com

                     Sujata Murthy/Ume
                     310-865-7812
                     Sujata.murthy@umusic.com

                     Keren Poznansky
                     310-865-7797
                     Keren.poznansky@umusic.com

SOURCE VH1