Dish Network Pro-series satellite receivers and interactive television services

Dish Networks

EchoStar Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: Dish, DISHP), and OpenTV (NASDAQ and AEX: OPTV), unveiled at the 2001 International Consumer Electronics Show the much-anticipated Dish Network ™ Pro-series of satellite TV receivers. These set-top boxes featured an interactive television platform powered by OpenTV that provided the environment for delivery of a scalable collection of interactive services which may include on-demand access to news, weather, sports, TV commerce, games and much more - all through a few clicks of the remote control. Both Dish Network Pro 301 and Dish Network Pro 501 satellite TV receivers are powered by OpenTV. The Dish Network Pro 301 is a powerful, space-saving model while the Dish Network Pro 501 featured built-in digital video recording and other personal TV services (MusicDish e-journal, 2004).

This announcement in 2001 created rich and engaging interactive TV opportunities for Dish Network customers. OpenTV already created and delivered an interactive weather application for Dish Network and developed other applications designed to attract and retain viewership as well as generate revenue opportunities (MusicDish e-journal, 2004).

In 2001, this was a significant milestone for two leading television companies and a leap forward for American viewers who were now able to experience television in a more entertaining, informative and meaningful way as a greater variety of interactive products and services became available through this new series of receivers (ISP Management, 2004).

Dish Networks

EchoStar's Dish Network was a leading direct broadcast satellite provider with more than five million subscribers nationwide, and OpenTV's interactive technology made interactive TV (iTV) possible for more than thirty million people across the globe. OpenTV was the technology behind the world's largest iTV service in Europe where more than four million regular U.K. customers are banking, shopping, playing games, e-mailing, and interacting with programming on their televisions (ISP Management, 2004).

About the Dish Network

Dish Network is a trademark of EchoStar Communications Corporation. Dish Network is EchoStar's state-of-the-art direct broadcast satellite TV system that is capable of offering over 500 channels of digital video and CD-quality audio programming, as well as advanced satellite TV receiver hardware and installation. Dish Network was ranked number one in overall customer satisfaction among cable / satellite TV subscribers by J.D. Power and Associates in 1999 and 2000 (Dish Network, 2004). EchoStar is included in the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX).

The Dish Network satellite TV continues to be ranked number one for customer satisfaction, according to J.D. Power and Associates. Preferred dealers will install a satellite dish and up to four dish network receivers for free. The Dish Network offers state of the art innovation that opens up a whole new world of entertainment. You can enjoy standard definition and high definition satellite TV programming (Dish Network, 2004).

Dish Networks

The Dish Network allows the finest picture and sound available today. You receive a pure digital signal, which is completely distortion-free and looks incredible on any television. The quality of dish network satellite TV signal is so high, it is equivalent to a DVD. You have the option to upgrade to a Personal Video Recorder (PVR) at minimal cost, giving you the ability to record and control TV programming in a way you never could before (Dish Network, 2004).

Programming at the Dish Network offers up to 500 channels that should be sufficient to cover all your interests, whether it be news, sport, movies or family entertainment. Six foreign language packages are available along with high speed Internet access. Twenty-six local TV packages are also available in most areas, providing satellite TV consumers an alternative to local cable service (Dish Network, 2004).

About OpenTV

One of the world's leading interactive television companies, OpenTV provides a comprehensive suite of technology, content, games, tools, applications, and professional services that enables cable and satellite network operators to provide interactive television services in over seventy countries. OpenTV has its Corporate Offices in San Francisco, California and regional offices in the United States, Europe and Asia / Pacific (ISP Management, 2004).

Technological Change

One of the world's leading interactive television companies, recently announced that its interactive games channel, PlayJam, has launched on EchoStar's Dish Network and is available to over seven million OpenTV enabled Dish Network subscribers (Dish Network, 2004).

With the completion of this launch, PlayJam, one of the world's most popular interactive television games channels, is now available to twenty million households worldwide and on over eight cable and satellite networks. Viewers access the PlayJam Channel, along with a wide range

Dish Networks of interactive services, from the DISH Home portal. Dish Network subscribers can select from a channel menu of popular games and are able to play and preview the first level of each of the games (Dish Network, 2004). If the viewer wishes to access additional game levels, they may subscribe to the service through the Dish Network, for which EchoStar currently charges its subscribers $4.99 a month. A dynamic menu application allows the games on the channel to be updated frequently (Dish Network, 2004).

As part of its working relationship with EchoStar, OpenTV has also created several other interactive applications for EchoStar subscribers over the past four years, including: Instant Weather, Bloomberg, News by Reuters, Horoscope, Fantasy Sports, My Scores, Pro-Football, College Football, Soccer, College Hoops, and Big League TV (Baseball), all running on OpenTV's patented middleware technology (ISP Management, 2004).

James Ackerman, CEO of Open TV, purports the continual need to upgrade technology in order to keep customers interested; in turn, creating more revenue:

We're excited to have launched PlayJam on Dish Network. We hope to keep viewers engaged with PlayJam by providing them with a rotation of unique and compelling interactive games from our library of over 300 games.

(MusicDish Network News, 2004)

Director of Sales for Programming at Echostar, Scott Higgins, regards the necessity for technological change in the same manner:

We're pleased to round out our interactive games offering with the addition of PlayJam.

Dish Networks

We continue to build and expand our interactive offerings through our OpenTV relationship, and we congratulate both OpenTV and our employees on the recent PlayJam launch. (MusicDish Network News, 2004)

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