NBC And DISH Network Team to Deliver Unique Guide To NBC's Unprecedented Summer Olympics Coverage; Six Channels On One Screen Let Viewers Quickly Select The Competition They Want To Watch

12-Aug-04

EchoStar Communications Corporation announced that its DISH Network Satellite TV service is teaming with NBC to create an NBC Interactive TV (ITV) showcase designed to deliver an array of NBC Universal's broadcast assets, including the networks that will carry the 2004 Summer Olympics coverage. The showcase is the first ITV multiple picture-in-picture application in the United States and will be free to more than 9 million DISH Network customers with access to ""dish home"" ITV service. Beginning Aug. 11, 2004 and running through Aug. 29, 2004 the showcase will allow viewers to monitor five NBC Universal networks on a single TV screen and select the competition or program that the viewer may want to view in normal, full-screen format. Five of the six showcase windows will air real-time coverage from MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Bravo and Telemundo when it is being broadcast. As many as three NBC networks will simultaneously provide Games' coverage during each Olympic broadcast day. The sixth window will show NBC Network Daily Olympic highlights and a preview of the upcoming Olympic events that will be carried by the local NBC Network affiliate. ""The NBC showcase lets DISH Network customers quickly preview on a single screen what events are on each network and then watch on a full screen whichever channel or competition interests them most,"" said Michael Schwimmer, EchoStar's Executive Vice President of Programming and Marketing. ""The showcase will be an extraordinary addition to the TV marketplace and serves as a platform for DISH Network's advanced 23-channel ITV offering.""""This summer, we're proud to be able to deliver unprecedented coverage of the Olympics,"" said Gary Zenkel, Executive Vice President, NBC Olympics. ""Our partnership with DISH Network will allow 9 million of their customers to easily navigate through this wide array of Olympic and NBC Universal options."" The showcase can be accessed through ""dish home"" on DISH Network channel 100 by pressing select when a showcase banner is shown on any one of the NBC channels, or by going directly to Channel 147 which will house the NBC Daily Olympic Highlights and promotion for Olympic coverage on the local NBC affiliate. The showcase channel was built by OpenTV, a leading provider of ITV systems and applications. DISH Network customers with OpenTV-enabled standard definition TV receiver models 3900, 4900, 301, 311, and 322 and DISH Player digital video recorder (DVR) models 501, 508, 510, and 522 can view the showcase through ""dish home."" Because the local NBC affiliate channel location varies from market to market on DISH Network, the NBC Network window on the showcase will feature NBC Daily Olympics highlights and previews of upcoming coverage on the local NBC affiliate. All five showcase networks will be provided to all of DISH Network's 10 million customers during the 2004 Summer Olympics, regardless of the programming package to which they subscribe and even if they are unable to access ""dish home.""Visit EchoStar's DISH Network at www.dishnetwork.com; for more information about NBC, please visit www.nbc.com.

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