NET-36 and BellSouth Team to Provide High-Fidelity and Compelling Content to BellSouth FastAccess Internet Service Customers

Business Wire, Jan 31, 2001

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

GREENWICH, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 31, 2001

Agreement Will Add Broadband Households to NET-36's Streaming Media

Distribution Network

NET-36(TM), a PanAmSat (NASDAQ:SPOT) company and provider of satellite-based Internet broadcast services, today announced that it has teamed with BellSouth (NASDAQ:BLS) to enable BellSouth(R) FastAccess(R) Internet Service subscribers to receive high-fidelity video and audio content via the NET-36 satellite-to-edge broadcast network.

As a result, BellSouth FastAccess DSL service consumers will enjoy digital entertainment at unsurpassed resolution without any degradation from its post-production quality. The agreement also increases the number of high-speed households viewing content served over the NET-36 edge network.

"Satellite transport to powerful edge servers that bypass up to 95% of Internet congestion points for broadband subscribers creates a new medium through which content license holders can develop complementary distribution avenues," states Bill Moses, president of NET-36 and senior vice president of PanAmSat. "The BellSouth relationship allows us to expand the number of households able to watch entertainment-oriented video and audio at near-TV quality over the Internet through NET-36--untainted by the Internet congestion that would otherwise damage video quality before it reaches the consumer's broadband connection."

The NET-36 satellite-based Internet Broadcast Network allows content providers to use PanAmSat's global satellite network to bypass the congested, terrestrial-based pipes of the Internet. This protects the fidelity of the original content and improves the consumer's viewing experience by ensuring that programming is viewed at the same quality that it leaves the studio.

"As broadband content and applications proliferate on the Internet, the edge network is becoming increasingly critical in delivering these services," said Cristina Van Hoff, Senior Manager, Strategy and Business Development for BellSouth. "BellSouth's relationship with NET-36 is part of our ongoing program of empowering inventive companies to provide their services to BellSouth's growing base of DSL customers by leveraging BellSouth's high performance network. Equally important, this relationship is built on a business model that supplies compelling content to end-users in a financially viable fashion."

About BellSouth Corporation

BellSouth Corporation is a Fortune 100 communications services company headquartered in Atlanta, GA, serving more than 44 million customers in the United States and 16 other countries.

Consistently recognized for customer satisfaction, BellSouth provides a full array of broadband data and e-commerce solutions to business customers, including Web hosting and other Internet services. In the residential market, BellSouth offers DSL high-speed Internet access, advanced voice features and other services. BellSouth also provides online and directory advertising services, including BellSouth(R) Real PagesSM.com.

BellSouth owns 40 percent of Cingular Wireless, the nation's second largest wireless company, which provides innovative wireless data and voice services.

About PanAmSat

PanAmSat is a leading provider of global video and data broadcasting services via satellite. The company builds, owns and operates networks that deliver entertainment and information to cable television systems, TV broadcast affiliates, direct-to-home TV operators, Internet service providers, telecommunications companies and corporations.

With 21 spacecraft in orbit today, PanAmSat has the world's largest commercial geostationary satellite network. The company will expand its global fleet to 23 spacecraft by mid-2001. For more information on PanAmSat, visit the company's Web site at http://www.panamsat.com

About NET-36(TM)

NET-36, a PanAmSat company, provides a satellite-based Internet Broadcast Network that leverages the world's largest network of geostationary-orbiting satellites and PanAmSat's 16-year heritage of fast, reliable, scalable, and secure video broadcast services.

NET-36 enables content providers to broadcast digital and streaming media to DSL providers, cable headends, ISPs and broadband wireless providers worldwide. NET-36 ensures that high-speed Internet subscribers around the world receive media streams at the same high fidelity the content provider intended it to be viewed- untainted by Internet congestion.

For more information, visit http://www.net-36.com.

Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking statements. These statements include risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ. Certain factors that could cause actual results to differ are described in the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999 and in quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed in 2000.