New Investment

NewMedia SPARK PLC
31 January 2000

                               
    NewMedia SPARK invests £1 million for a minority stake
                       in Rainbow Network


NewMedia  Spark plc ('SPARK') announces that it has agreed  to
invest  £1  million  for a minority stake in  Rainbow  Network
('Rainbow') (www.rainbownetwork.com). Rainbow is a leading  UK
portal  catering to the gay and lesbian communities.   Rainbow
aims  to establish the largest cross media brand in this area,
combining both high quality content and e-commerce services.

Rainbow's  management team has a proven track record  in  off-
line  business  and credibility amongst the  gay  and  lesbian
communities. Gordon Lewis, founder, has a background in TV and
film,  specialising  in music videos and  commercials.  Gordon
became  interested in the gay market in the  late  1980's  and
soon  after the Village' brand started with the establishment
of  Village West One in 1991, the first openly gay continental
cafi  bar.  After a successful four years The Village  Group'
was  sold  in  1995.  The management team also  includes  Mark
Fullalove  and Ian Lewis, who both worked with Gordon  at  the
Village Group.

Rainbow  currently has a team of 15 full time journalists,  17
regional   co-ordinators  throughout  the  UK,  20   freelance
journalists  and  an  army of volunteers, all  producing  high
quality  content  for  the site. The  Company  has  negotiated
content provision deals with some high profile providers  such
as  TalkCast  and LineOne.  Further deals are in the  pipeline
which  will provide Rainbow with a route into Europe and Asia.
Rainbow  is  also  in discussions with a number  of  financial
institutions   with  a  view  to  providing  Rainbow   branded
financial  services products to the gay and lesbian community.
In  the  last few months Rainbow has been extremely successful
at   attracting  mainstream  advertisers  including  Bank   of
Scotland,  Legal and General, Go Airlines, BskyB, M&S,  Tesco,
Virgin Megastores and many others.

Commenting on the investment Michael Whittaker, CEO of  SPARK,
said:

'Rainbow has very substantial growth potential and we are very
pleased  that  we have been able to make this investment.  The
gay sector represents a broad but focused niche market with  a
high  disposable income that has yet to be targeted online  in
its entirety. Rainbow has a highly credible management and has
the potential to build on its growing reputation in the UK  to
develop  a  global brand, offering international  as  well  as
locally  targeted  information to the gay  community.  We  are
hopeful that this will become a very valuable business.'

Rainbow Network is the thirteenth investment by NewMedia Spark
since  its  shares began trading on the Alternative Investment
Market  on  28th  October 1999. Its other investments  are  in
Digital   Animations   Group  plc,  Bridge4u.com,   Linkguard,
Easier!,   Skillvest,   Hotbox.co.uk,  Crocus,   WatchMyPrice,
Synaptic   Systems,   Purple   Voice,   Merger   Market    and
Travelstore.com.   Of these Digital Annimations  has  recently
announced  a deal with the interactive division of  the  Press
Association  to  provide the world's first digital  newsreader
'Ananova',  and  its shares currently trade at  20  times  the
price paid by SPARK for its investment.  Easier! has announced
its  intention to float within the next few days  at  a  price
which will value SPARK's £500,000 investment at £1.75 million.
SPARK  is  hopeful  that  the  other  investments  within  its
portfolio will show significant increases in value during  the
next  few  months,  either  by  way  of  later  round  private
financing, flotation or merger. SPARK continues to investigate
and negotiate a wide range of further investments.
                               
                               
For further information please contact:

NewMedia SPARK                        0468 555944
Michael Whitaker                      0171 851 7777

Buchanan Communications               0421 413496
Lisa Baderoon                         0171 466 5000

Peel Hunt & Company
David Davies                          0171 418 8900

Rainbow Network                       0467 388591
Gordon Lewis                          0171 278 1105