EchoStar Signs P.C. Richard & Son As New Regional DISH Networkô Retailer

P.C. Richard & Son To Offer DISH Networkô Satellite TV Systems In Over 40 Stores In New York, New Jersey

17-Aug-00

EchoStar Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH, DISHP) announced that P.C. Richard & Son, a major U.S. consumer electronics retailer, has entered into a long term agreement with DISH Networkô to sell satellite television systems in 42 retail stores in New York and New Jersey. P.C. Richard & Son will be offering DISH Network products beginning September 1, 2000. P.C. Richard & Son was recently listed by TWICE, a consumer electronics trade publication, as one of the Top 50 major consumer electronics retailers in the United States. ""DISH Network is excited to have a dominant consumer electronics retail presence in the New York area like that offered by P.C. Richard & Son,"" said Jim DeFranco, Executive Vice President of EchoStar. ""P.C. Richard is a proven leader in offering digital electronics and is well positioned to serve the rapidly growing demand for DISH Network satellite TV."" ""We are pleased to now offer a choice in satellite television as we believe that is in the best interest of our customers,"" said Gregg Richard, Vice President of P.C. Richard & Son. ""We've watched DISH Network grow to over 50 percent market share of net new satellite TV customers in the past year and we want to be a part of that growth."" DISH Network is EchoStar's state-of-the-art DBS system with the capacity to offer 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 4.3 million customers nationwide. EchoStar is included in the NASDAQ-100 Index (NDX) which contains the largest non-financial companies on the NASDAQ stock market.