'Diddy' Searches for New Generation of 'Bad Boys,' Scouting Nationwide for the Next Superstar Group to Be Featured on MTV's 'Making the Band 4'

NEW YORK, Jan. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- MTV: Music Television and Sean "Diddy" Combs today announced open call auditions for MTV's hit returning series "Making the Band 4" to kick off on January 17th in Los Angeles. And for the first time ever candidates who are unable to make the open calls can post their audition videos on-line via makingtheband.MTV.com allowing viewers the opportunity to vote for their favorite "Making The Band 4" candidates. The series is scheduled to premiere in Q2 '07 and will chronicle Diddy as he sets out to form an all new boy band.

In the last season of "Making the Band 3," Diddy created the successful all girl band "Danity Kane" whose album debuted at number one. The show documented the journey of Aubrey, D. Woods, Aundrea, Dawn and Shannon as they recorded their first album together under the guidance and expertise of Diddy. "Danity Kane" is scheduled to go on tour with Christina Aguilera. Now Diddy is about to do it all again with "Making The Band 4!"

Starting January 13th aspiring superstars can log onto http://makingtheband.mtv.com/ and upload their singing audition for the world to see. Viewers will have until January 27th to vote for their favorites. 25 candidates will be selected to move on to Round Two, where they'll upload a dance audition. Round Two voting concludes on February 6th. Producers will reward 3 finalists with the opportunity to audition in person for Diddy.

Open call audition dates and locations include: LOS ANGELES: DATE: Wednesday 1/17 - Open Call TIME: Line forms at 6 am, Open call begins promptly at 8 am LOCATION: KNITTING FACTORY 7021 Hollywood Blvd Hollywood, CA 90028 HOUSTON DATE: Saturday 1/20 TIME: Line forms at 7 am, Open call begins promptly at 10 am LOCATION: MERIDIAN 1503 Chartres St. Houston, TX 77003 ORLANDO DATE: Tuesday 1/23 TIME: Line forms at 7 am, Open call begins promptly at 10 am LOCATION: CLUB PARIS 122 W. Church St. Orlando, FL 32801 ATLANTA DATE: Saturday 1/27 TIME: Line forms at 7 am, Open call begins promptly at 10 am LOCATION: VERVE LOUNGE 511 Peachtree St. NE Atlanta, GA 30308 CHICAGO DATE: Tuesday 1/30 TIME: Line forms at 7 am, Open call begins promptly at 10 am LOCATION: CLUB 720 720 North Wells St. Chicago, IL 60622 DETROIT DATE: Saturday 2/3 TIME: Line forms at 7 am, Open call begins promptly at 10 am LOCATION: PLAN B 205 W. Congress Detroit, MI 48226 NEW YORK DATE: Tuesday 2/6 TIME: Line forms at 7 am, Open call begins promptly at 10 am LOCATION: BLVD 199 Bowery (at Spring St) New York, NY 10002

The first installment of "Making the Band," a real-life drama and breakthrough concept in music and television, chronicled the private and public moments of O-Town's five band members (Ashley Parker Angel, Erik- Michael Estrada, Dan Miller, Trevor Penick and Jacob Underwood) as they ascended into pop stardom. In the second installment of the series "Making the Band 2" Diddy was successful when he developed the hip-hop group 'Da Band' whose album "Too Hot For TV" went gold.

The last season of "Making The Band 3" ranked #1 in its time period among P12-34 versus cable competition and reached over 63 million total viewers in premieres and repeats.

Sean "Diddy" Combs, Ted Iredell and Perry Dance will serve as executive producers. Jacquelyn French is the executive in charge of production for MTV and Francesca Spero is Producer for Bad Boy Entertainment.

SEAN COMBS, the CEO and founder of Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment Group is a multifaceted entertainment powerhouse. Sean "Diddy" Combs was recently declared "One of the Most Influential Businessmen in the World" by Time Magazine and CNN. Combs, 36 oversees one of the world's preeminent urban entertainment companies, encompassing a broad range of businesses including recording, music publishing, artist management, television and film production, recording facility, apparel and restaurants.

MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom , 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 which are trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks connects with its audiences through its robust consumer products businesses and its more than 200 interactive properties worldwide, including online, broadband, wireless and interactive television services. The network also has licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication deals whereby all of its programming services can be seen worldwide.