DISH Network Offers Free Weekend Preview of STARZ ENCORE Super Pak Premium Movie Channels

Business Wire, Oct 3, 2000

Entertainment Editors & Writers

LITTLETON, Colo.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Oct. 3, 2000

EchoStar Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH, DISHP)

DISH Network Customers Receive a Full Weekend FREE

of STARZ ENCORE Super Pak "New Hit Movies"

EchoStar Communications Corporation (Nasdaq: DISH, DISHP) announced today that beginning Friday, Oct. 6, DISH Network(TM) and Starz Encore Group will offer customers a free weekend preview of all eight premium movie channels in the STARZ ENCORE Super Pak. The STARZ ENCORE Super Pak is available to all DISH Network customers with a DISH 500 satellite television system.

DISH Network customers can tune in to channels 340 and 350-356 for three days of "New Hit Movies" in the STARZ ENCORE Super Pak with showings of critically acclaimed blockbuster movies. Some of Hollywood's best recent releases are slated for the free preview, including The Sixth Sense, The Mummy, For Love Of The Game, Mystery Men, Bats, Bowfinger, October Sky, Drop Dead Gorgeous and An Ideal Husband. Other great hits during the free weekend include Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Twin Dragons, A Civil Action, 10 Things I Hate About You, The Other Sister, Inspector Gadget, To Walk With Lions, The Flintstones and Blast From The Past.

DISH Network regularly offers the STARZ ENCORE Super Pak for only $10.99 per month, which includes eight premium channels:

STARZ! (2 channels): STARZ! features blockbuster movies that show exclusively on STARZ! and nowhere else! Wholesome, commercial-free family programs as well as critically acclaimed films are shown 24 hours a day.

STARZ! Cinema (2 channels): STARZ! Cinema is the reliable destination for movies with endearing themes, moving story lines and provocative subjects.

STARZ! Family: STARZ! Family is the first 24-hour commercial-free channel showing 100 percent family movies.

STARZ! Theater: STARZ! Theater is scheduled in a unique double feature format to bring you the best Hollywood movies at the best times.

BET Movies: BET Movies is the first and only movie channel dedicated to showcasing black artists and movies round-the-clock.

Encore: The New Encore is the ultimate, commercial-free movie channel because it not only shows recent big hit movies but also the great flicks you know and love.

DISH Network's America's Top 150 programming package, which offers over 150 popular channels such as Discovery, ESPN and Disney, includes the Encore Movie Pak, six additional commercial-free channels - Encore (west), Action, Love Stories, Mystery, True Stories and Westerns - for only $39.99 per month.

For more information about STARZ ENCORE Super Pak and additional DISH Network programming, visit www.dishnetwork.com. For more information about how to get a DISH 500 satellite television system, contact your local retailer or call 1-800/333-DISH (3474).

STARZ! is a first-run premium movie channel from Starz Encore Group, offering new hit movies including exclusive, first-run films from Universal Studios, Touchstone Pictures, Miramax Films, Hollywood Pictures, New Line Cinema, The Shooting Gallery, Fine Line Films, October Films, Destination Films and Samuel Goldwyn Films. Find out more information about STARZ ENCORE Super Pak by visiting www.starzencore.com.

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 fully MPEG-2/DVB compliant 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. EchoStar is included in the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX), which contains the largest non-financial companies on the Nasdaq Stock Market. DISH Network currently serves over 4.3 million customers.