Dish Launches Service in Mexico

[Scott Greczkowski]

MVS Multivision AND ECHOSTAR LAUNCH SATELLITE TV SERVICE IN MEXICO

• Basic service includes 25 popular channels for $139 pesos per month

• ‘Dish’ satellite television services to be accessible throughout Mexico

• Rollout begins in Puebla and Leon with expansion to largest cities soon

Englewood, Colorado, U.S.A., and Mexico City, Mexico - Nov. 25, 2008 - MVS Comunicaciones, one of the largest media and telecommunications conglomerates in Mexico, and EchoStar Corporation (Nasdaq: SATS), a leading U.S. designer and manufacturer of equipment for satellite, IPTV, cable, terrestrial and consumer electronics markets, announced today the formation of a joint venture called Dish Mexico that will launch “Dish,” an affordable satellite TV service that will be available to consumers across Mexico.

The direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV service will deliver a wide variety of audio and video channels in an all digital format. The service will be delivered via an EchoStar-provided high powered direct broadcast satellite allowing the service to reach beyond mountains and buildings to provide affordable video options for consumers across the entire country. Delivered directly to consumer homes via a small satellite dish antenna and a digitally encrypted set-top box, the service is expected to launch initially in the cities of Puebla and Leon and will be available across Mexico in the next few months.

“This joint venture between MVS and EchoStar makes it possible for a large sector of Mexico’s growing population to receive a popular lineup of all digital television channels at an attractive price,” said Charlie Ergen, CEO and chairman of EchoStar Corporation. “The opportunity to partner with MVS for a variety of services creates an exciting opportunity for EchoStar as we enter the Mexican market.”

The basic service includes 25 Spanish and English-language channels for $139 pesos per month (value added tax included). The basic package includes children’s programming from Disney Channel, Jetix, Nick, Discovery Kids and Cartoon Network; general entertainment from Universal Channel, Sony, Warner Channel, 52MX, E! Entertainment Television and SciFi Channel; educational channels from Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, The History Channel and Infinite; sports programming from ESPN, ESPN 2 and Fox Sports; music channels from MTV and Exa TV; and movie channels from TNT, The Film Zone, MC, Multipremier and Cine Latino. In addition, Dish offers the following premium movie packages with no commercial breaks at an affordable monthly price: HBO, HBO Plus, HBO Family, Cinemax, Max Prime, Movie City, CityVibe, CityMix and Cinecanal.

Subscribers can lease a digital satellite TV set-top box, antenna and receive a standard professional installation.

MVS Multivision’s existing MASTV service brings more than 570,000 customers to the newly formed joint venture. The Dish service will use the existing MASTV infrastructure that is positioned in 11 cities across Mexico and has been developed for the last 20 years to provide sales, billing and collection, installation, and customer service for subscribers.

EchoStar, a company that has been instrumental in providing satellite TV equipment and transmission services in the United States and Canada, is providing satellite capacity and uplink facilities for transmitting the service directly to MVS’ customer homes in Mexico. Additionally, EchoStar is contributing award-winning digital satellite TV equipment including a small 20-inch dish antenna, satellite receiver, remote control and a secure conditional access system to the joint venture allowing customers to experience high quality all digital television services.

Subscribers will enjoy a feature-rich satellite receiver with a sleek, slim-line chassis design, an interactive user interface, on-screen program guide, parental control locks, closed caption, a universal infra-red remote control and other features that enhance the television viewing experience.

“The alliance of MVS with EchoStar for the launch of a direct-to-home satellite TV service generates an innovative and avant-garde product,” said Ernesto Vargas, CEO of MVS Comunicaciones. “With Dish, the best pay TV channels will now reach most homes in the country at an affordable price. The attraction of this service is that it delivers channels most desired by Mexican families while offering a monthly cost lower than any other comparable pay TV service in the market. We’re confident Mexican families will enjoy our well-rounded programming lineup, including children’s programming, educational content, sports and music channels and premium movies.”

The service will be available to order at Dish Mexico Service and Collection Centers and through community based door-to-door sales agents, commercial centers and self service stores.

Financial terms of the joint venture were not released.

(Attached is a photo of the Dish that they will use in Mexico...

[neljtorres]

Aransay has to be happy with this!

[jcrandall]

Just to point out, 139 pesos is around $10 US / month.

[nelson61]

This will be interesting to watch. They will be competing with Sky in Mexico. And, unlike US/Canada, US/Mexico has a detailed bilateral agreement allowing transmission of programming into each others markets so we might expect some developments in that area also.


US/Mexico DTH (Direct to Home) Protocal

[BabaLouie]

Just to point out, 139 pesos is around $10 US / month.

And I don't know how many times I've been slammed on forums like this for suggesting that Dish or DTV could offer a comparable English package for under $20.
"Oh, no," I've been told, "No way they could possibly put ESPN and other above-mentioned channels in such a package for that kind of price."


Yeah, right.

This is just more reinforcement for my argument that the biggest reason the providers package and charge the way they do is "because they can."

[sampatterson]

And I don't know how many times I've been slammed on forums like this for suggesting that Dish or DTV could offer a comparable English package for under $20.
"Oh, no," I've been told, "No way they could possibly put ESPN and other above-mentioned channels in such a package for that kind of price."

This is just more reinforcement for my argument that the biggest reason the providers package and charge the way they do is "because they can."

Uh, the price per subscriber would be substantially less to Dish in Mexico than in the US. ESPN would not charge the same rate for a subscriber there.

[WTguy]

Uh, the price per subscriber would be substantially less to Dish in Mexico than in the US. ESPN would not charge the same rate for a subscriber there.

Plus, ESPN for Mexico will not likely be the same as ESPN in the US. Thus making the price lower. Having spent a fair amount of time in Asia (HK, Singapore and the Philippines), ESPN in those countries is hardly recognizable except for the logos and the US version of Sportscenter about once a day. Pretty much it is soccer, tennis, soccer, auto racaing (not Nascar, the other type), a sampling of MLB, soccer, rugby, cricket, and, did I mention soccer. Not to get totally off track, but check out the website for ESPN Star sometime. Mexico's version will probably look closer to it than ESPN in the US.

[angiodan]

So, anyone have a Mexican address or broker that I can use?! And do you get locals!!!

Talk about a new grey market that can be born.

[memo90061]

haha. i would love to get the local channels from mexico.

the website is up already!!


http://www.dish.com.mx/

[bigmutt]

Currently only offered in states of Puebla and Leon, in Mexico.
But looks like it's offered everywhere in the U.S. for $19.95/month, with the first 6 months being $9.95. And the one being offered in the U.S. says they have over 50 Mexican channels, whereas the one in Mexico has about half that. Mostly crappy channels that are already available via MASTV, for about ten bucks a month. I subscribe to them, in fact, for two years now, just to get the add-on package of HBO, Cinemax, MovieCity, CineCanal, FilmZone, etc.
I pay $280 pesos a month total, which is $22 a month U.S. kind-of a deal, when you think about it: I think I was paying that much JUST to get HBO when I lived in the U.S.