EchoStar Europe to Spotlight Complementary Applications and Services at IPTV World Forum 2010

Echostar Europe (Stand #127) Will Showcase at IPTV World Forum 2010, London, a Number of Technologies That Will Enable IPTV and Broadband TV Operators to Offer Cost Effective, Churn-Beating, Triple-Screen Services

STEETON, UK — EchoStar Europe (NASDAQ: SATS), a leading developer of added-value, connected-device solutions to the digital television industry, announced today that it will illustrate how IPTV and broadband TV operators are in pole position to gain from consumer’s hunger for more flexible TV solutions. In providing what EchoStar coins as ‘ubiquitous entertainment’ through its integrated SlingLoaded™ place-shifting solutions, operators can benefit from state-of-the-art applications that have the ability to increase service revenues, reduce churn and provide tools for differentiation, something that many industry commentators argue is a must for IPTV operators wishing to compete in highly developed digital TV markets.

“We believe that with an always-on high bandwidth connection already in place, IPTV operators have solved the largest problem of encouraging consumers to connect their devices to broadband in order to access a wider range of two-way services”, commented Rick Smith, vice president of Sales and Marketing at EchoStar Europe. “From a SlingLoaded set-top box or digital video recorder acting as the central point of distribution, consumers can place-shift their content securely to other locations across the broadband infrastructure at their convenience, whether it be to a smart phone, laptop or second viewing location in the home”.

“IPTV operators are extremely well placed to benefit from the convergence of digital TV and hybrid services as the industry migrates to a model where multiple services are accessed and or distributed from a central point in the home”, continued Smith. “IPTV has now migrated from its origins in telco-based television services to a complementary hybrid model combining IP on-demand, over-the-top services and broadcast TV, and we strongly believe that the delivery of TV everywhere to any device, in any location, is the next logical step for operators”.

The exponential growth and penetration of portable, broadband-enabled devices provide the perfect platform for operators to develop new revenue streams through complementary multiplatform and hybrid services. EchoStar Europe’s fully integrated SlingLoaded™ DVR platform will enable operators to offer mobile TV without the need for investment in costly head-end infrastructure. The award-winning technology provides consumers with a market proven and user friendly TV Everywhere solution and will be the focus of EchoStar’s technology showcase at IPTV World Forum.

Show highlights include:

• Live showcase of the SlingLoaded 600 series — this flexible product platform is EchoStar’s latest fully-integrated SlingLoaded solution that enables operators to deliver a compelling TV Everywhere experience. Through SlingLoaded, consumers can place-shift and watch TV from any location inside or outside the home and on any Sling-enabled device including mobile phones, laptops and ancillary television sets. The solution presents operators with the ability to develop multiplatform revenue streams and provide their customers with greater flexibility to engage on-the-go lifestyles.
• EchoStar’s SlingLoaded HDS-600 R platform has been nominated for two awards at the IPTV World Series Awards – Best Hybrid Broadcast-IP Video Delivery Solution or Service and Best Internet TV Technology/Solution.
• Live demonstration of the HDX-600 series — a feature-rich, high definition DVR. Available with either an integrated hard disk drive (HDD), or as a stand alone set-top box (HDX-400) with an upgrade path to DVR via plug in HDD, the unit offers a great deal of flexibility to IPTV operators wishing to offer personalised digital television services to their customers. The product supports advanced video coding (AVC) to reduce bandwidth requirements for video-based services and is compatible with the industry’s leading digital rights management (DRM), conditional access and middleware solutions. The unit also comes with optional fully integrated SlingLoaded functionality or can be upgraded in the field with Sling Media’s smallest Slingbox, the 700U.
• EchoStar Europe will also demonstrate its HDS-400 E hybrid high definition set-top box designed to enable satellite TV operators to combine the benefits of broadcast HD TV and high-bandwidth two-way services, such as video-on-demand, delivered over the broadband channel.
• EchoStar Europe’s Ian Walker, Director of Sales and Marketing – EMEA Pay TV will bring a wealth of experience to the conference when he speaks in the Connected TV conference stream at 12.35, 25 March on the panel entitled ‘Understanding the Evolving Device Ecosystem’.

Visit EchoStar Europe at stand #127 and or contact mark.goodburn@echostar.com to book your personal product demonstration.