DISH Network Now Delivers Interactive TV to 5 Million U.S. Households

[John Corn]

DISH Network Now Delivers Interactive Television to 5 Million U.S. Households; DISH Network Leads Industry in Interactive Television Capabilities


LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 9, 2003--EchoStar Communications Corporation (Nasdaq:DISH) and its DISH Network(TM) announced today at the 2003 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that more than 5 million DISH Network households now have access to 14 interactive TV channels with more to be announced soon.

DISH Home, a gateway to Customer Support, Entertainment, News & Weather, Games, Lifestyles and Sports, is available at Channel 100. EchoStar is demonstrating these easy-to-use interactive TV features at CES, booth no. 25167, in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Jan. 9-12, 2003.

DISH Network customers receive DISH Home as an added benefit to their programming packages. DISH Home offers "on-demand" access to news, weather, entertainment, sports and other information normally found from other resources. No more fumbling through newspapers to get a movie listing, waiting for a weather channel to give customers weather information or waiting for a national sportscast to get scores

it's all there with a click of the remote control. Customers even have the ability to pay their DISH Network bill from the comfort of their own living room.

DISH Home current content providers include STATS, Inc., Visiware, Tribune Media Services (TMS), Gist Communications, Games, Inc.'s Lottery.com unit, AccuWeather, Inc., OpenTV and EchoStar. All interactive channels are powered by OpenTV, one of the world's leading interactive television companies, that provides software, content and applications for delivering and managing interactive television services.

Customer Service

Customer Support, offered by EchoStar, allows customers to view their statements, pay their bill, add programming such as movie packages and access answers to frequently asked questions -- all without calling customer service. A phone line connection to the set top box is required for any transaction through Customer Support.

What's New, offered by EchoStar, provides hints and tidbits on currently launched interactive channels and updates on newly launched interactive channels and services.

News & Weather

DISH Instant Weather, offered by AccuWeather(R), provides local current conditions and five-day weather forecasts for nearly 1,400 U.S. cities, national parks, ski resorts and destination locations. A customer may personalize their profile and choose up to six cities as their "favorites," offering faster access to local weather information.

News by Reuters, offered by OpenTV, provides reliable, comprehensive news coverage in the following categories: Top Stories, World, Business, Sports, Entertainment and Oddly Enough.

Games

Playin'TV, offered by Visiware, provides subscription-based multiple arcade, action and children's games that can be played on the TV using a remote control. Playin'TV offers subscribers five games rotated on a weekly basis for $4.99 per month. One free game will be offered each month.

Entertainment

Zap2it Entertainment, offered by Tribune Media Services (TMS), the Zap2it interactive channel provides DISH Network customers on-demand TV and movie information, including movie reviews, program descriptions, and "Best Bets" recommendations. Local theater information with show times and locations is available within most major cities served by DISH Network with local TV channels.

TV Mag, offered by Gist Communications, provides daily entertainment information, including updates and sneak peeks on soaps, talk show listings, celebrities of the day, television facts and trivia.

Lifestyles

Horoscope, offered by OpenTV, provides daily horoscope readings based on the 12 signs of the zodiac for a customer's personal enjoyment. A customer may choose a Zodiac sign as their "favorite," offering faster access to their Horoscope.

DISH Lottery, offered by Games, Inc.'s Lottery.com unit, provides winning lottery numbers from across the country. It does not offer the sale of tickets. Information is available for State Lottery Results, Top 5 Jackpots and News. A customer may choose a state as their "favorite," offering faster access to local lottery numbers.

Sports

My Scores, offered by STATS, Inc., provides daily sports information including the latest scores from the following leagues and associations: pro football, baseball, basketball (men's and women's), hockey, soccer, auto racing, golf (men's and women's), college football and basketball (men's and women's). My Scores also provides information on conferences, teams, players (for golf and auto racing) scores and schedules.

Pro Football, offered by STATS, Inc., provides daily professional football information, including the latest scores, schedules, statistics and standings from both the AFC and the NFC. There is also a free two-player weekly Pick'em Challenge game. A customer may also choose their "favorite" team, offering a convenient way to track results. Pro Football is a seasonal interactive channel.

College Football, offered by STATS, Inc., provides daily College Football information, including the latest scores from both Division 1-A and 1-AA, as well as bowl games. There is also a free two-player weekly Pick'em Challenge game. A customer may also choose their "favorite" team, offering a convenient way to track results. College Football is a seasonal interactive channel.

Soccer, offered by STATS, Inc., provides daily soccer information including scores, standings and statistics from the following leagues: U.S. Major League Soccer, Mexican Soccer, English Premier, German Bundesliga and both the Men's and Women's World Cup Tournaments.

Baseball, offered by STATS, Inc., provides daily baseball information including headlines, scores, league leaders and injuries through the Sports category. Four main categories are featured: News, American League, National League and Game as well as Scores, Standings and Leaders. Baseball is also a seasonal interactive channel.

Baseball also offers the Daily Fantasy Challenge, letting up to two players go toe-to-toe with a fantasy baseball expert every day during baseball season. Customers choose five players from a list of professional baseball players competing on the diamond that day and set their lineup (one pitcher, one catcher, one infielder and two outfielders). Points are earned based on each player's performance.

These services are currently offered to DISH Network customers with OpenTV enabled Models 3900, 4900, 301, PVR501 and 508 satellite TV receivers.

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[Randy_B]

I keep forgetting Dish Home is there. Except when the 2 yr old gets his hands on th eremote. That red label seems to attract his attention.

[Darkman]

hehe - Me too :) ( keep forgetting it's there - i mean ;) )

[mwgiii]

Is dish planning to add interactive to the 721 and 921 when it comes?

[Cyclone]

Well, the 721 is out, so I guess someone with one can respond.

I have a model 4900 and I get the interative stuff. I use it for movie listings, but not much else. Games would kill my remotes batteries so I avoid them. The news I have not found useful, and weather I only look at when I think its really gonna snow.

I'd say that the interative stuff is weak as it, but has the potential to get better when move PVR receivers with disk drives are out there.

[John Corn]

They mentioned in a Charlie Chat that Dish Home would be added to the 721 approximately around the 2nd quarter of this year.

[Darkman]

Yes they are planning to add that to 721

and to 921 more likely too (when it comes out)

[DarrellP]

Customer Service still doesn't work on my 501, so the above press release is false. Also, how can they claim 14 channels when it is 14 applications on a single channel? A bit misleading if you ask me.

Personally, I use the Weather, Movie Guide and My Scores. It's pretty cool to be able to sit down and look up the week's standings without sifting through a newspaper.