EchoStar Announces Interactive Television Broadcast Agreement
EchoStar Teams Up With Interactive Channels to Offer Best Features of
Internet and Television for High-Speed Broadband Subscribers
EchoStar Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH, DISHP) announced today EchoStar's interactive multimedia programming for a new convergent service. This high-speed interactive broadcast service -- scheduled to debut summer 1999 -- will provide subscribers with high-speed multimedia information on their televisions and personal computers, all delivered through an 18-inch satellite dish.
EchoStar's satellite broadcast will incorporate the best features of Internet sites with interactive multimedia, accessible by a click of the mouse -- or remote control. In addition to on-demand interactive multimedia, the service will offer the ability to download software, games and electronic publications.
EchoStar's interactive channels will be priced both individually and in packages, allowing subscribers to customize their own programming services. Content will be delivered to both personal computers and televisions alike -- providing high-quality audio, smooth video images, dynamic graphics and text -- all in digital format.
"EchoStar's new interactive channels will make an attractive addition to our high-speed interactive broadcast capabilities," said Mark Jackson, senior vice president of Satellite Services at EchoStar. "We are committed to providing a wide variety of choices for our high-bandwidth customers. From the most recognizable names in entertainment, news, technology and information, EchoStar will make programming available for every interest area."
In the summer of 1999, EchoStar will debut the service with the following new channels: Bloomberg Financial Markets, The Weather Channel, MediaX, Pseudo Programs, Tech Talk, EMNetwork, Salon Magazine and E! Online, with more to come in the future.
BLOOMBERG FINANCIAL MARKETS contact: Lisa Chajet Press Relations 212/893-3412 lchajet@bloomberg.net
Bloomberg's interactive channel offers four main features: Video
News on Demand, News Headlines on Demand, Interactive Weather and
Financial Market Data. The Video News on Demand feature allows
subscribers to view video clips covering world and national news,
financial market updates and business. News Headlines on Demand offers
the latest headlines and stories in business, technology, sports and
world/national news. Interactive Weather provides both the current and
five-day forecast for over 100 cities worldwide. Financial Market Data
furnishes the latest data for currencies, commodities, economic
statistics and equities. Instantaneous transmission of customized
interactive news information is just one of many dynamic features
Bloomberg's interactive channel offers. Bloomberg can be accessed on
the Internet at: www.bloomberg.com
THE WEATHER CHANNEL
contact:
Kathy Lane
Director, Audience Promotion & Public Relations
770/226-2102
klane@weather.com
The Weather Channel, already a popular channel on EchoStar's DISH Network, will provide the best features of The Weather Channel's Internet web page with the best features of its successful TV channel, featuring current local, national and world weather maps that can be accessed with a click of the mouse or remote control, five-day "planners," and inform viewers about upcoming weather events, such as impending storms or hayfever season, in a specific region. The Weather Channel can be accessed on the Internet at: www.weather.com
MEDIAX contact: Paul Frendlich MediaX Rogers & Cowan 212/545-5858
Founded in 1996, MediaX Corporation is an award-winning developer and publisher of multimedia entertainment software and real time 3-D games, as well as producer and publisher of new media entertainment content for entertainment companies and is an e-commerce provider. Headquartered in Culver City, Calif., MediaX owns and operates a digital production facility in Santa Cruz, Calif. MediaX appeals to a young, techno-savvy audience, providing a network of entertainment celebrity websites and an e-commerce site that offers 265,000 entertainment titles, including audio CDs, videos and DVDs. MediaX will deliver programming and online purchasing for a broad spectrum of entertainment interests. From "On the Road with B.B. King," an interactive exploration of B.B. King's life, to exclusive information and live events from Rod Stewart's Official website. Using EchoStar's high-speed satellite broadcast, MediaX will incorporate the best features of its Internet site with richer interactive multimedia, online purchasing opportunities. MediaX can be accessed on the Internet at: www.mediax.com
PSEUDO PROGRAMS, INC.
contact:
Andy Morris or Mark Hazlin
212/685-4300
amorris@dkanews.com
Pseudo Programs, Inc., is a leading provider of original "Net-TV"
entertainment -- television-style programming over the web. Each week,
Pseudo.com produces and netcasts over 40 interactive Net-TV shows from
its studio facilities in New York City and Los Angeles and will offer
its programming for EchoStar's new convergent service. Pseudo's
programming targets a young, hip audience with a 15-to-25-year-old
demographic, and covers niche topics ranging from B-movies to computer
games, Hip-Hop music to professional wrestling. Viewers can experience
Pseudo through multiple venues, including the Pseudo.com website,
Pseudo's individually branded website "channels," and now via
EchoStar's satellite broadcast. Pseudo can be accessed on the Internet
at: www.pseudo.com
TECH TALK
contact:
Jeff Yablon
President & CEO
Tech Talk Broadcasting
888/639-5954, ext.203
jeff@ttalk.com
Tech Talk is currently seen and heard via radio and PC
connections by more than a million people worldwide. Its website is
owned-by Tech Talk Broadcasting, Inc., a cross-media production
facility with operations in Chicago, Des Moines, New York, Washington
D.C., Melbourne, Australia; Auckland, New Zealand; Port Elizabeth,
South Africa; and Vancouver, British Columbia. From "The Computer
Answer Guy," Tech Talk's popular weekly answers to listener queries,
to "World Technology Roundup," a daily review of breaking technews
from locations around the globe, Tech Talk delivers daily and weekly
Web and radio shows relating to a variety of technology and computer
matters. Tech Talk can be accessed on the Internet at: www.ttalk.com
EMNETWORK
contact:
Roxana Kaveh
Breakthru Communications for
EnterMedia Network Company
408/777-9364
rkaveh@breakthrucom.com
EMNetwork is an interactive music and entertainment network
transmitted over Internet, satellite and cable that was launched on
the Internet June 17, 1998, with a variety of interactive programs.
EMNetwork viewers interact with programming on a scheduled basis with
other viewers so that they never experience the same program twice --
even with multiple viewings. EMNetwork shows offer a fully integrated
interactive experience including quality audio and full motion video,
visually compelling animations, chat communications, real-time viewer
polls and text with graphics. EMNetwork can be accessed on the
Internet at: www.emnetwork.com
SALON MaGAZINE
contact:
Patrick Hurley
Marketing Director
Salon Magazine
415/882-8732
phurley@salonmagazine.com
Salon Magazine is an award-winning Internet publication that
covers culturally poignant news and issues, books, the arts and
technology. Founded in November 1995 by David Talbot, former San
Francisco Examiner Arts and Features Editor, Salon Magazine is
critically acclaimed and was selected as Time magazine's "Best Web
Site of 1996" and Advertising Age's "Online Magazine of the Year."
Salon Magazine won a 1997 and 1998 Webby Award for best online
magazine and recently won the Society of Professional Journalists
award for "Best Online Investigative Reporting of 1998." Salon
Magazine can be accessed on the Internet at: www.salonmagazine.com
E! ONLINE
contact:
Melissa Zuckerman
Director, Public Relations
E! Online
213/954-8241
melissaz@eonline.com
E! Online is the premier entertainment destination on the World
Wide Web delivering original news, gossip, celebrities, movie and TV
information to consumers through an interactive format utilizing the
brand awareness and programming of E! Entertainment Television. E!
Online also operates Moviefinder.com, Your Complete and Personal Movie
Connection® located at www.moviefinder.com, and www.shopeonline.com,
the Internet's one-stop shop for entertainment™. E! Online,
Entertainment's Home Page™, is a wholly owned subsidiary of E!
Entertainment Television. E! Online can be accessed on the Internet
at: www.eonline.com
EchoStar Communications Corp., includes three interrelated
business units:
- DISH Network™ is EchoStar's state-of-the-art DBS system that
offers customers over 300 channels of digital video and
CD-quality audio programming, fully MPEG-2/DVB compliant
hardware, installation, financing and leasing.
- EchoStar Technologies Corporation (ETC, formerly HTS™ -
Houston Tracker Systems, Inc.), designs, manufactures and
distributes DBS set-top boxes, antennas and other digital
equipment for DISH Network and various international customers
that include ExpressVu Canada and Telefonica's Via Digital system
in Spain. ETC also provides uplink-center design, construction
oversight and project-integration services for customers
internationally.
- Satellite Services provides the delivery of video, audio and data
services to business television customers and other satellite
users. These services include satellite uplink, satellite
transponder space-usage and other services. Satellite Services
also administers SKY VISTA, a direct broadcast satellite service
offering up to 27 channels of popular digital satellite
television programming to viewers in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico
and the U.S. territories in the Caribbean.
The DISH Network currently serves over 1.9 million customers.
DISH Network is a trademark of EchoStar Communications Corporation.
HTS is a trademark of Houston Tracker Systems, Inc. DISH Network is
located on the Internet at: www.dishnetwork.com
CONTACT: EchoStar Communications Corp.
Judianne Atencio, 303/723-2010
judianne.atencio@echostar.com
Marc Lumpkin, 303/723-2020
marc.lumpkin@echostar.com