DISH Network(R) and BIAP Announce Partnership to Bring Glassbooth Interactive Political Content to More Than 13.6 Million DISH Network Customers

DISH Network(R) and BIAP Announce Partnership to Bring Glassbooth Interactive Political Content to More Than 13.6 Million DISH Network Customers

Interactive Television Offers Viewers Insights into the 2008 Presidential Election

PLANO, Texas, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- DISH Network(R) and BIAP respond to advertisers' call for more targeted and measurable television advertising through the launch of "DISH Decision 2008," an election portal which provides DISH Network viewers with an innovative way to access political information on the national, state and local level.

Initial content for DISH Decision 2008 comes from the partnership with the nonprofit organization Glassbooth (http://www.glassbooth.org/). Glassbooth's technology enables viewers to rank the importance of key issues related to candidates, and answer a series of questions based on their personal rankings. The survey results provide users with a match of the presidential candidate that most closely aligns with their views. Until recently, Glassbooth has only been available online. Now DISH Network customers can access Glassbooth on TV.

"DISH Network is the first in the country to provide this unique interactive television application," said Michael Kelly, executive vice president. "The majority of Americans follow the election on their televisions through news and information networks. Now these same American voters can dig deeper into the election on that very same medium, their television set. Only DISH Network customers will have this ability."

"The Internet has allowed Glassbooth to remix the way voters interact with political information in ways never before possible," said Alex Jacobs, Founder and Director of Marketing at Glassbooth Corp. "DISH Network and BIAP are fantastic partners: they align with our core values of education and interactive access to unbiased information, and are bringing Glassbooth to America in a way never before possible in the television medium."

The DISH Decision 2008 election portal is revolutionary on several fronts. It brings interactivity and clarity to DISH Network customers in this complex election landscape, while also offering candidates and advertisers the ability to target viewers by placing tailored messages around specific issues, topics and geographies. In a year with political advertising approaching $3 billion, advanced advertising techniques proven on the Internet are in high demand on TV. BIAP is delivering targeted, localized and hence highly relevant political content and advertising across the unprecedented volume of the 13.695 million national DISH Network footprint -- a powerful, and until now elusive, combination on TV.

"This partnership is a big step in the advancement of interactive TV," said Julie Roehm, Marketing Communications Consultant for BIAP. "We are proud to partner with DISH Network to bring its customers this high-quality, non-partisan community service. This partnership marks a new frontier where consumers can easily navigate through the sea of political content and, based on their personal interests, advertisers can provide targeted and highly relevant commercial messages."

In the coming months, a second-generation application of the election portal will be available to include interactive 30-second ads that link to advanced features such as detailed, targeted content, long-form video, requests for information, and other lead-generating features tailored to the political process. These advanced features are available to all DISH Network customers free of charge, and no additional equipment is required to run and view the service.

About EchoStar Communications Corporation

EchoStar Communications Corporation (NASDAQ:DISH) has been a leader for more than 27 years in satellite TV equipment sales and support worldwide. The Company's DISH Network(R) is the fastest-growing pay-TV provider in the country since 2000, providing more than 13.695 million satellite TV customers with industry-leading customer satisfaction which has surpassed major cable companies for seven years running. DISH Network customers also enjoy access to a premier line of award-winning Digital Video Recorders (DVRs), hundreds of video and audio channels, the most International channels in the U.S., industry-leading Interactive TV applications, Latino programming, and the best sports and movies in HD. DISH Network offers a variety of package and price options including the lowest all-digital price in America, the DishDVR Advantage Package, high-speed Internet service, a free upgrade to the best HD DVR in the industry, and six months free of DishHD. EchoStar is included in the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) and is a Fortune 300 company. Visit http://www.echostar.com/ or call 1-800-333-DISH (3474) for more information.

About BIAP

BIAP (Broadband Interactive Applications) is a leading iTV media company with patented technologies that make television advertising more valuable. The technologies are compatible with any digital edge device across cable, satellite, broadband, and mobile. Through its iTV product suite, two of which have been Emmy-nominated, BIAP elicits viewer engagement resulting in a personalized and convenient TV viewing experience. BIAP develops identity-protected consumer profiles that enable advertisers to develop targeted and highly relevant messages. BIAP creates products for key demographic groups that have high consumer appeal including local search, sports, t-commerce, and enhanced TV. BIAP's partners include: NBC, eBay, and Hearst's Talking Phone Book for Yellow Pages on TV. BIAP is currently carried in a growing number of markets across the United States with EchoStar Communications and Time Warner Cable. Corporate headquarters are in Plano, Texas, with research and development in Sterling, Virginia. For more information: www.biap.com

About Glassbooth

Conceived in 2007 out of a decline in political discourse, Glassbooth is devoted to creating public tools for voters to make more informed political decisions. The organization was founded by three 24-year-olds with deep interest in the convergence of politics and the Internet. Glassbooth operates under core principles of integrity, transparency and non-bias. To ensure the integrity of the information and the non-bias of the product, Glassbooth has carefully installed multiple layers of accountability. All information used in the Glassbooth process is verifiable and public. Please visit http://www.glassbooth.org/ for more information.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: BIAP Inc.

CONTACT: Ellen Cooper, +1-646-419-0006, ellencooper@biap.com, or Jocelyn
Brandeis, +1-212-410-0929, Jocelyn-JBLH@nyc.rr.com, both of BIAP; Parker C.
McConachie, +1-720-514-5351, of EchoStar; Alex Jacobs, Founder, Director of
Marketing of Glassbooth Corp., +1-203-856-7358, Jacobs@glassbooth.org

Web site:

http://www.biap.com/
http://www.glassbooth.org/
http://www.echostar.com/

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