EchoStar, OpenTV Agree To Deliver Winkís Enhanced Broadcastingô And ""T-Commerce"" Nationwide To DISH Networkô Satellite TV Viewers

OpenTV, Wink Partner To Offer Wink Services On The OpenTV Platform Which Could Reach Up To 4 Million DISH Networkô Subscriber Homes By Summer 2003

27-Jun-00

EchoStar Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH, DISHP), OpenTV Corporation (NASDAQ and AEX: OPTV) and Wink Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: WINK) announced an agreement to enable OpenTV's interactive software to deliver Wink's Enhanced Broadcastingô features to EchoStar's DISH Networkô satellite TV customers nationwide. The agreement allows for transmission of Wink-enhanced programming and advertising to DISH Network satellite TV receivers enabled with OpenTV software. In addition, EchoStar has agreed to offer the Wink Response Networkô as one way to process television-based transactions, referred to as ""T-commerce,"" for interactive content in both OpenTV and Wink formats. Terms of the deal include a proposed initial launch of Wink services to OpenTV-enabled DISH Network customers by 2001, which could reach as many as 4 million homes by summer 2003. The agreement provides that Wink, OpenTV and EchoStar will share in the revenue generated by the addition of the Wink service. Further terms of the agreement were not disclosed. ""EchoStar is pleased to offer Wink's entertaining, revenue-generating, interactive services to our digital satellite TV customers,"" said Charlie Ergen, CEO and Chairman of EchoStar. ""This agreement enables us to offer Wink's enhanced TV content and e-commerce from America's leading networks and advertisers and to add interactive enhancements to our local advertising. By combining Wink's response services with the interactive platform from OpenTV, we can deliver the most robust array of television commerce services available today."" ""Our agreement with EchoStar and OpenTV is a landmark deal for Wink and for the industry,"" said Wink's President and CEO Maggie Wilderotter. ""We believe the powerful combination of EchoStar's national delivery infrastructure and cutting-edge digital satellite receivers, OpenTV's interactive television platform, and Wink's products and services is very exciting for DISH Network customers. We look forward to working with EchoStar and OpenTV to launch the Wink services."" ""We are pleased to expand our service offering on EchoStar by adding Wink as one of our transaction providers that can deliver back-end T-commerce capabilities, something we believe is important in making interactive television a major revenue-producing force,"" said Jan Steenkamp, President and CEO of OpenTV. ""In addition, our agreement with Wink and EchoStar to enable Wink's enhanced broadcasting capabilities will expand the reach of OpenTV tools and applications to include broadcasters and advertisers already enabled with Wink capabilities. These broadcasters and advertisers can now benefit from the unique features OpenTV offers to expand the interactive television viewing experience and to generate additional revenue by providing compelling television programming to millions of U.S. television viewers."" Today's announcement also marks the beginning of a collaboration between Wink and OpenTV. By enabling the Wink technology to run as an application on OpenTV's platform, EchoStar and OpenTV will continue their course of providing multiple interactive features to DISH Network subscribers. DISH Network customers with OpenTV-enabled satellite TV receivers will enjoy Wink's Enhanced Broadcasting, which offers interactivity for programming and advertising from the most popular broadcast and cable networks, along with multiple OpenTV interactive applications and services. Additionally, Wink's Response Network will collect, route and report transactions generated on TV, allowing for the fulfillment of viewer requests and purchases. The Wink Response Network will be one solution available for the fulfillment of interactive services offered by DISH Network, whether such requests are generated by Wink Enhanced Broadcasting, OpenTV applications, or ATVEF-compliant content. In addition, Wink partners will now be able to use OpenTV tools to create new enhanced applications that run on EchoStar set-top boxes powered by OpenTV. The Wink feature will be delivered to DISH Network customers with OpenTV-enabled set-top boxes via a satellite software download expected to begin in 2001. Running on OpenTV's powerful software platform, Wink Enhanced Broadcasting gives viewers a free and convenient way to interact with programs and advertisements while they continue to watch TV. By clicking their remote control during an enhanced program or advertisement, viewers can access program-related information such as weather, sports updates, trivia and games, or request product samples, free coupons or purchase merchandise directly from TV. About EchoStar DISH Network is EchoStar's state-of-the-art DBS system with the capacity to offer customers 500 channels of digital video and CD-quality audio programming as well as fully MPEG-2/DVB compliant hardware and installation. DISH Network, a trademark of EchoStar Communications Corporation, currently serves over 4 million customers nationwide. DISH Network was ranked number one in customer satisfaction among satellite/cable TV subscribers by J.D. Power and Associates in 1999. EchoStar is included in the NASDAQ-100 Index (NDX) which contains the largest non-financial companies on the NASDAQ Stock Market. For more information, contact 800 333 DISH (3474) or visit www.dishnetwork.com. About OpenTV OpenTV is the leading worldwide provider of software that enables digital interactive television (ITV), providing a complete end-to-end solution for the development and delivery of interactive services via digital satellite, cable and terrestrial broadcast. OpenTV set-top box software has been shipped with or installed in more than 7.8 million digital set-top boxes worldwide. OpenTV software solutions have been selected by 29 television network operators in over 50 countries, including British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) in the United Kingdom, TPS and Cable Lyonnaise in France, PrimaCom in Germany, Via Digital in Spain, Galaxy Latin America, the exclusive provider of DIRECTVÆ in Latin America and EchoStar's DISH Network in the United States. The OpenTV set-top box software is licensed to 29 digital set-top box manufacturers, and OpenTV's authoring tools are licensed to hundreds of independent developers and content and service providers. OpenTV is a member of the Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) project, CableLabs' OpenCable initiative, ATSC DASE and JavaTV. OpenTV is a licensee of Personal Javaô from Sun Microsystems. OpenTV is supported by investments from eight leading Internet, broadcast and broadband companies including America Online (NYSE: AOL), Motorola (NYSE: MOT), Liberty Digital (NASDAQ: LDIG), News Corporation (NYSE: NWS), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) and Shaw Communications (NYSE: SJR), in addition to Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: SUNW) and MIH Limited (NASDAQ: MIHL). Worldwide headquarters for OpenTV is located in Mountain View, California. Information on OpenTV is available at www.opentv.com. About Wink Communications, Inc. Wink Communications, Inc. is America's leader in ""one-click"" commerce over television. The company is based in Alameda, California, and provides an end-to-end system to enable interactive entertainment and electronic commerce on television. The interactive TV service, called Wink Enhanced Broadcasting, gives viewers an easy and convenient way to interact with programs and advertisements using their remote control while they continue to watch TV. Wink is free to the viewer, requiring no infrastructure upgrades or additional hardware in the home for viewers with a Wink enabled digital satellite set-top box. Wink's Enhanced TV was introduced in the United States in June 1998 and is currently available to 200,000 viewers in a variety of locations throughout the U.S. Wink has been available in Japan since October 1996. A complete list of industry leaders who have adopted the Wink technology and additional information regarding Wink Communications is available at www.wink.com.

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