Dish Network to offer Interactive Olympics

Scott Greczkowski

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DISH NETWORK® AND ENSEQUENCE PARTNER WITH NBC UNIVERSAL TO DELIVER INNOVATIVE INTERACTIVE TV EXPERIENCE FOR 2008 BEIJING OLYMPIC GAMES



Six-Screen Mosaic and Interactive Triggers Enhance NBCU’s 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Viewing Experience


NEW YORK and ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – August 7, 2008 – DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH), the third largest pay-TV provider and the digital transition leader, and Ensequence, the interactive TV company, today announced that NBC Universal (NBCU) has selected them to transform NBCU’s coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games into a fully interactive experience.

DISH Network® will offer NBCU’s 2008 Beijing Olympic Games coverage through its Interactive TV (iTV) mosaic, a multiple-screen showcase, available to more than 12 million iTV-enabled DISH Network subscribers. Airing from August 8 – August 24, 2008, the iTV mosaic will broadcast from six NBCU channels: CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, USA Network and two Olympic highlight channels. DISH Network subscribers can watch all six screens simultaneously or select one channel to watch in full-screen.

“DISH Network’s iTV mosaic is an excellent platform to showcase NBCU’s coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games by giving customers a unique viewing experience that allows them to watch four live events and two highlight channels or select one channel for full-screen viewing,” said Michael Kelly, executive vice president of DISH Network. “The mosaic is an important component of DISH Network’s more than 25 existing iTV channels – the most offered by any pay-TV provider in the U.S. – and serves as a great option for fans of NBCU’s 2008 Olympic Games coverage to follow their favorite events and athletes.”

In addition, Ensequence was chosen by NBCU to provide a separate interactive application on DishHOME (DISH Network Ch. 100). NBCU’s 2008 Beijing Olympic Games experience wraps interactivity around live programming on DISH Network. Viewers are able to use their remote control to instantly:
·Access athlete profiles
·Read late-breaking news
·View video highlights of the day’s events
·Track each country’s medal counts
·Learn more about featured sponsors
·See the team USA Report
·Learn more about Beijing and the event venues

This represents the second time that NBCU and Ensequence have teamed up to deliver interactive television to viewers.

"NBC Universal and DISH Network continue to set the pace for the entire industry with interactive television and we’re excited to be partnering with them to create and deliver the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games interactive television experience,” said Dalen Harrison, Ensequence CEO. "The world’s most innovative programmers such as NBC Universal are realizing that interactive television delivers the engagement and accountability of the internet, giving them the best of both worlds.”

DISH Network recently announced the addition of two high-definition specialty channels to its HD line-up solely dedicated to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The NBC Olympic Soccer Channel and NBC Olympic Basketball Channel will offer customers HD coverage of each sport for 24-hours per day during the Games.For more information about the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, visit NBCOlympics.com via the DISH website. DISH Network, including its comprehensive iTV line-up, call 800-333-DISH (3474) or visit www.dishnetwork.com. For more information about Ensequence, visit www.ensequence.com.
 

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What channel is this in for HD?
Probably isn't. I hate to gripe, but here it comes: What good is channel 100 to those of us with HD Absolute (or Turbo stand alone for that matter)? I mean they probably want to push hd, so why lock in the MSNBC, Oxygen, and cnbc on the olympic guide. Further, USA is the map down to USA SD. I woul much rather see Olympic Soccer, Olympic Basketball, and Universal HD up there (and for that matter CNBC+ instead of one of the athelete bio or team usa channel)
 
Probably isn't. I hate to gripe, but here it comes: What good is channel 100 to those of us with HD Absolute (or Turbo stand alone for that matter)? I mean they probably want to push hd, so why lock in the MSNBC, Oxygen, and cnbc on the olympic guide. Further, USA is the map down to USA SD. I woul much rather see Olympic Soccer, Olympic Basketball, and Universal HD up there (and for that matter CNBC+ instead of one of the athelete bio or team usa channel)

Very, very true... they should have thought of that since an estimated 40% of Dish clients are HD. They could have had a Channel 100HD... as I'm an HD Only client.

Good concept, dmendenjr!

Sometimes its difficult to see the forest through the trees...
 
I have the HD Absolute and agree. Channel 100 is a waste. 3 of the 6 channels, it says are locked out for me, even though two of them, I get the HD version and the others only take you to the SD version of the channels. Dish 100 sucks. I just set up a Favorites list just for the HD Olympic channels that I get. Works better than channel 100.

P.S. Also there is no interactive channels for the main NBC feed, which has most of the coverage.
 
Just off the phone w/a Dish TSR, explained HD Only interactive obstacles, the TSR though it was a brilliant spin, and will push his super for possible Channel 100HD inclusion... Maybe SW engineers can whip something up, Monday for Tuesday night/morn dispatch...?
 
Since both my sat tuners and my OTA tuner are busy with Olympics most of the time, when am I actually supposed to even look at this channel 100 thing?
 
The interactive features are nice, but the mosaic channel 100 is useless for me. I created an Olympics favorites list instead.
 
40% ? No way.... VOOM actually let slip the number of HD subscibers in a court filing and it was more in the 12% range.

That approximate 40% figure thrown at me, through a TSR (we know such a sources, must betaken with a grain of salt) :eek:
 
I would think 10% would be more like it.
Using rough numbers and understanding that we don't know when VOOM's numbers were truly from, they stated, as I recall, that Dish has 1.6 million HD customers. Dish's total customer number is around 14 million. That's 11%.
 
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