EchoStar Continues to Add Channels to High-Speed Interactive Television Broadcast Service
EchoStar to Offer Intellicast.com, MBT International, SailingNews.com,
SimplyTV and Women.com Networks for Interactive Satellite TV
EchoStar Communications Corp. (NASDAQ: DISH, DISHP) is excited to
announce today the addition of five new interactive channels on
EchoStar's new on-demand convergent service: Intellicast.com, MBT
International, SailingNews.com, SimplyTV and Women.com Networks.
This high-speed interactive broadcast service, scheduled to debut
late 1999, will provide subscribers with high-speed multimedia
information and entertainment through their televisions using
specially-designed EchoStar satellite receivers, all delivered through
a small satellite dish. EchoStar will also demonstrate its interactive
channel service at EchoStar's Team Summit '99, a company tradeshow
involving over 1,100 nationwide DISH Network retailers May 20-23.
EchoStar's interactive channels will incorporate the best
features of the Internet and TV, providing interactive multimedia
accessible by a click of the remote control. In addition to on-demand
interactive multimedia, EchoStar's interactive 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 programming
services. Content will be delivered to televisions -- providing
high-quality audio, smooth video images, dynamic graphics and text --
all in digital format.
"From news and weather to horse auctions and sailing the seven
seas, EchoStar is committed to providing a wide variety of choices for
our interactive customers from a multitude of subject areas," said
Mark Jackson, senior vice president of Satellite Services at EchoStar.
"From the most recognizable names in entertainment, news, technology
and special interests, EchoStar will make programming available for
every area of interest. These new interactive channels will make an
attractive addition to our high-speed interactive broadcast
capabilities."
Intellicast.com, MBT International, SailingNews.com, SimplyTV and
Women.com Networks, join EchoStar's previously announced interactive
channel lineup of Rollingstone.com, LAUNCH, Bloomberg Financial
Markets, The Weather Channel, MediaX, Pseudo Programs, Tech Talk,
EMNetwork, Salon Magazine, SuperMarkets Online and E! Online, with
more interactive channels to follow.
INTELLICAST.COM
contact:
Michael Sikillian, Senior Product Manager
Weather Services International
978/670-5186
msikillian@wsicorp.com
Intellicast.com is the Internet's leading site for supplying
weather for active lives, with up-to-the-minute specialized weather
for sailing, golf, beaches and hiking, in addition to comprehensive
local weather information worldwide. Intellicast.com will produce
three interactive applications specifically for satellite-delivered
broadcast: Sailing Planner, Golf Planner and Travel Planner. Sailing
Planner is an interactive planning tool to help sailors, windsurfers
and boaters plan outdoor activities. Golf Planner will help golfers
plan their games around local weather conditions. Travel Planner will
include a worldwide weather summary for major destination cities, an
almanac of typical weather conditions, as well as maps of current
temperatures and wind conditions. Each will be updated throughout the
day and will combine full motion video, interactive animations and
richly-detailed local weather maps to help the sailor, golfer or
traveler plan activities. Intellicast.com is provided by Weather
Services International (WSI Corporation), a subsidiary of TASC, Inc.,
and a Litton Industries company (NYSE: LIT). WSI is one of the world's
largest suppliers of real-time weather data, imagery and weather
forecast services to customers in the broadcast media, aviation,
utilities, government and agriculture markets. Intellicast.com can be
found on the Internet at www.intellicast.com.
MBT INTERNATIONAL
contact:
Allen Salzberg
Wolfe Axelrod Associates
212/370-4500
allen@wolfeaxelrod.com
MBT International is the leading provider of agricultural
products and services over the Internet. From passive auctions, like
the current Horse Exchange where customers can view horses and
participate in cattle auctions through high-quality audio and
full-motion video, to purchasing farm and heavy equipment like
combines and tractors, MBTI will incorporate its website content with
visually dynamic multimedia and online purchasing capabilities. In
addition, MBTI will utilize its vast library of established titles on
the agricultural industry and is prepared to deliver over 1,000
special interest video programs to EchoStar's interactive broadcast
service. MBTI's focus on the $300 billion agricultural marketplace
combined with its highly-regarded websites, www.agrimall.com,
www.horsenet.com, www.lifeathome.com and www.bookstable.com, creates a
tremendous opportunity to provide new and desired services to an
affluent, growing audience. MBTI is located on the Internet at
www.mbtinet.com.
SAILINGNEWS.COM
contact:
David McCreary
Sailing Source
607/387-6347
SailingSource@compuserve.com
SailingNews.com is part of the Sailing Source network of over 135
sailing related websites. This new channel will feature daily news
from around the world, plus weekly video programs featuring the
world's most prestigious yachting events. The Sailing Source client
roster includes the International Sailing Federation, the world
governing body for the sport; the Royal Ocean Racing Club, the
premiere offshore racing event organizer; the Offshore Racing Council;
nearly every Olympic Sailing Class; and many of the world's top
sailboat builders, sailmakers and accessory manufacturers. As one of
the most reliable information sources about the world of sailing,
SailingNews.com will provide EchoStar's interactive channel customers
access to thousands of photos, information about daily events and
weekly industry and product news. SailingNews.com can be found on the
Internet at www.sailingsource.com.
SIMPLYTV
contact:
K. Bacchus
SimplyTV
212/736-1999
info@simplytv.net
SimplyTV offers a wide array of fully interactive, on-demand
multimedia and entertainment from 80 different domestic and
international content providers. Each major channel category is
subdivided into microsubjects, with content provided in full-motion
video, including 5 to 30 second commercial broadcasts. Presently,
SimplyTV has over 51,000 hours of video programming, enough for 24
hours of continuous viewing for nearly six years, incorporating audio,
video, text and animation to enhance the interactive viewing
experience. SimplyTV possesses key advantages in its understanding of
the interactive culture and the ability to deliver entertainment and
informational programming.
WOMEN.COM NETWORKS
contact:
Kathy Sanguinetti
Women.com Networks
650/378-4908
prgroup@women.com
Women.com (www.women.com) is a leading Internet network dedicated
to women, featuring award-winning original content, personalized
services, community and online shopping. The network is comprised of
more than 90,000 pages of content organized into 19 topical channels,
including career, entertainment, family, health, home and garden,
horoscopes, technology and Internet, and pregnancy. The company enjoys
strategic relationships with The Hearst Corporation and Rodale Press,
Inc., enabling Women.com to offer an online newsstand featuring
content from 11 of the world's leading women's magazines, including
Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Prevention and Redbook.
Other innovative interactive channels previously announced to
debut on EchoStar's convergent service this winter include:
BLOOMBERG FINANCIAL MARKETS: Bloomberg will offer instantaneous
transmission of customized interactive news information, such as Video
News on Demand, News Headlines on Demand, Interactive Weather and
Financial Market Data.
E! ONLINE: E! Online is the premier entertainment destination on
the Internet 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.
EMNETWORK: EMNetwork is an interactive music and entertainment
network offering 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.
LAUNCH: LAUNCH Media is a digital media company dedicated to
creating the premier entertainment destination for discovering new
music and produces LAUNCH.com and LAUNCH on CD.
MEDIAX: MediaX Corporation appeals to a young, techno-savvy
audience and 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 content for entertainment companies and
e-commerce.
PSEUDO PROGRAMS, INC.: Pseudo Programs is a leading provider of
original "Net-TV" entertainment -- television-style programming over
the web -- targeting a young, hip audience and covers niche topics
ranging from B-movies to computer games, from Hip-Hop music to
professional wrestling.
ROLLINGSTONE.COM: RollingStone.com, part of Tunes.com network of
music sites, will offer daily news, reviews, feature stories, over
1000 full-length music videos on demand, the Web's largest collection
of exclusive, downloadable photographs, as well as over 30 years of
archives from music's most venerable publication.
SALON MAGAZINE: Salon Magazine is an award-winning Internet
publication that covers culturally poignant news and issues, books,
the arts and technology.
SUPERMARKETS ONLINE: SuperMarkets Online offers the industry's
only secure online coupons through ValuPage, a collection of coupons,
recipes, rebates and offers from leading branded goods manufacturers
and accepted at over 11,800 supermarkets across the country.
TECH TALK: Tech Talk is a cross-media production facility
delivering daily and weekly Web and radio shows relating to a variety
of technology and computer information heard and seen by more than a
million people worldwide.
THE WEATHER CHANNEL: The Weather Channel will provide the best
features of its website and successful TV channel, featuring current
local, national and world weather maps, five-day "planners," and
inform viewers about upcoming weather events in a specific region.
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 and installation.
- 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.
DISH Network currently serves over 2.3 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
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CONTACT: EchoStar Communications Corp. Judianne Atencio, 303/723-2010 judianne.atencio@echostar.com or Marc Lumpkin, 303/723-2020 marc.lumpkin@echostar.com