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DISH Launches New Marketing Campaign; Featuring Voice of Award-Winning Actress Rebel Wilson as Hopper the Kangaroo

Release Date: Monday, March 17, 2014 6:00 am MDT
Terms: Corporate
Dateline City: ENGLEWOOD, Colo.

DISH's Hopper the Kangaroo makes debut during 2014 NCAA Tournament

DISH celebrates campaign launch with "Bracket Breaks;" encourages employees to enjoy March Hoops on TVs and through DISH Anywhere™ while at work
2013 NCAA Tournament streaming increased 158 percent over 2012**

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DISH (NASDAQ: DISH) today announced the launch of its new multimillion-dollar marketing campaign featuring Hollywood celebrity, Rebel Wilson, as the voice of its new animation, Hopper the Kangaroo.

The inaugural television spot features Hopper the Kangaroo, secretly watching college basketball at work using DISH Anywhere™ on her tablet. Before her boss catches her watching, she quickly "pouches" away her device, similar to what countless Americans do throughout the March hoops tournaments. View the new TV commercial at DISH's Official YouTube Channel.

"Technology companies regularly struggle at forming an emotional connection with consumers. Our new animated Hopper, featuring Rebel Wilson's voice, makes for a character that's highly engaging," said James Moorhead, DISH chief marketing officer. "DISH is the only company that delivers consumers all their live and recorded TV anywhere. It is simply the best mobile video experience in the world, and our new campaign showcases our technology to consumers in an easily relatable way."

DISH introduces "Bracket Breaks"

To celebrate the new national marketing campaign, and embrace the March hoops madness, DISH also introduced "Bracket Breaks" for its employees. Intended for employees to use DISH Anywhere to enjoy tournament games on their devices while at work, Bracket Breaks lets employees watch the games without having to "pouch" it like Hopper in the TV advertisement.

Taking a Bracket Break to watch college basketball games on mobile devices is becoming increasingly popular. According to Turner Sports data from last year's tournament, there were approximately 45 million video streams through its first two weekends in 2013, which represents a 158 percent increase over 2012's numbers.

"Every year people talk about productivity loss at work during the NCAA tournament. With the prevalence of mobile devices, it is easier to follow along than ever before," said Joseph P. Clayton, DISH chief executive officer and president. "At DISH, we are embracing the madness, and we are encouraging employees to take Bracket Breaks. By using DISH Anywhere, they can watch games, and show their love for college basketball without having to cover it up. I will be right there with them."

Throughout the tournaments, employees will be encouraged to ditch the secrecy and to take Bracket Breaks, using DISH mobile apps. And to ensure that none of the hoops action will be missed, at headquarters, DISH has supplemented its corporate Wi-Fi network to support all of the employees' bandwidth needs when watching via DISH Anywhere. To view the video of the internal employee announcement, visit http://about.dish.com/multimedia-gallery and click on the "Videos" tab.

DISH enhances NCAA Tournament viewing experience

The action does not stop with the employees at DISH. DISH Hopper customers can make the most of their tournament viewing experience using DISH Anywhere, the all-new Multi-Channel View, BracketView, Game Finder and DISH Explorer.

DISH Anywhere gives DISH subscribers the power to watch their live and recorded TV from a computer, phone or tablet.

Multi-Channel View brings games airing on various channels together on one screen.

BracketView displays games in recognizable bracket format, noting scores and giving viewers the ability to check stats, record and view games in progress
Game Finder is customizable to feature favorite sports and teams. It also allows viewers to tune-in, record or view stats on games of interest; this includes Thuuz excitement ratings to find the best games at any given time.

DISH Explorer, the second screen iPad app, includes a "NCAA Tournament" tab on the Top Sports screen, allowing users to quickly see upcoming games, times and channels. It is easy to set recordings and even join social conversations on Twitter about the tournament.

For a full run down on the features please visit DISH Frequency.

**2013 NCAA Tournament streaming data referenced from Turner Sports.**