SOURCE: EchoStar Corporation

 

ENGLEWOOD, CO--(Marketwire - March 23, 2009) - EchoStar Satellite Services, a division of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), announced today the company's IP-Prime Conversion Program, designed to provide continued delivery of video transport services for telco IP headend facilities across the United States. Commercial transport provider IP-Prime has previously announced it will discontinue its video transport service to headend facilities by July 31, 2009. EchoStar's IP-Prime Conversion Program provides qualified customers with EchoStar's ViP-TV™ transport service, replacement IDC satellite receivers and a standard professional installation, including compatible LNBs, a satellite dish re-point, cabling and connectors.

EchoStar's ViP-TV transport service delivers a secure, MPEG-4 encoded IP stream of approximately 250 channels of popular, broadcast quality TV channels from a satellite located at 85 degrees W.L. In addition, ViP-TV can provide local TV channel aggregation in the telco's DMA in both high definition and standard definition (where available).

EchoStar will demonstrate the service at Satellite 2009 booth #597 at the Washington Convention Center, March 25-27.

ViP-TV provides a complete set of design and integration services to build a fully provisioned IPTV system for telcos. EchoStar also offers flexible choices from market leading suppliers of conditional access systems (CAS), subscriber management systems (SMS), video on demand (VOD), emergency alert systems (EAS), electronic program guide (EPG), ad insert systems (AIS), boxware (middleware) and set-top boxes ranging from entry level to full featured standard definition and high definition digital video recorders.

"EchoStar is committed to delivering a best-in-class transport service not only to IP-Prime customers but also to telco operators across the nation," said Steve Skalski, vice president of EchoStar's ViP-TV division. "ViP-TV offers operators affordable, scalable and aggregated MPEG-4 IP-encapsulated audio and TV channels from a high-powered satellite. Through our proven work with CAS and middleware solutions, our ViP-TV service can be deployed rapidly and maintained at a low cost. Our experts are also available to provide a channel management analysis to help telcos competing in a triple play market determine how best to acquire and retain video subscribers."

ViP-TV's suite of channels includes the following:

--  ViP-Premier™, offering approximately 110 of the most popular TV
    channels;
    
--  ViP-HD™, boasting approximately 42 channels of industry-leading
    high definition programming;
    
--  ViP-Movies™, presenting a menu of approximately 39 channels of the
    most popular movie services;
    
--  ViP-Latino™, offering approximately 38 channels of top-rated
    Spanish-language programming;
    
--  ViP-International™, providing approximately 23 channels in multiple
    languages.
    

For more information on ViP-TV, visit www.echostarviptv.com, contact 303-706-4040 or email viptv@echostar.com.

About EchoStar Satellite Services

EchoStar Satellite Services is a business unit of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS) and provides a highly reliable network that is available for backhaul, aggregation and distribution of video, audio and data content domestically and internationally. EchoStar also offers the ViP-TV platform providing IPTV solutions for telco and cable operators. EchoStar represents a significant source of Ku-band and Ka-band satellite capacity and spacecraft operation services with access to a fleet of eight satellites, sophisticated ground-based teleport facilities, and an expansive terrestrial backhaul network crisscrossing the U.S. along with 24-hour Traffic, Technical Operations and Satellite Access Centers staffed by highly trained engineers and technicians. For more information on EchoStar Satellite Services or for occasional or full time satellite bandwidth, contact 866-359-8804 or email efss@echostar.com.