Dish Network in the News

STARZ! Offers Dolby Digital 5.1 on DISH Network

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. and LITTLETON, Colo., Oct. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Starz Encore Group (Starz Encore) announced today that STARZ!, the company's flagship first-run movie channel, is the first premium television channel to offer EchoStar Communications Corporation's DISH Network(TM) satellite TV customers with movies in Dolby Digital 5.1 audio.

DISH Network customers with Dolby Digital 5.1-capable satellite TV receivers who subscribe to STARZ! can recreate the same spectacular audio environment that they enjoy in movie theatres. (See appendix tables for receivers and Dolby Digital encoded movie programming.)

Select movies from the Starz Encore east coast feed of 'STARZ! (DISH Network channel 350) are now available. Starz Encore offers approximately 50 monthly showings of new hit movies using Dolby Digital 5.1 signals. Current blockbusters on STARZ! featuring Dolby Digital 5.1 include ``The Sixth Sense,'' ``For Love of the Game,'' and ``The Insider'' (premiering Oct. 28).

Dolby Digital 5.1, also known simply as Dolby Digital, offers sensational sound by delivering five discrete, full-fidelity (3Hz-20,000Hz) audio channels (left-center-right-left surround-right surround) plus a subwoofer channel.

``We are pleased to enhance the STARZ! channel with Dolby Digital for our viewers who already enjoy DISH Network's STARZ ENCORE Super Pak,'' said Michael Schwimmer, vice president of Programming at EchoStar. ``DISH Network, which also provides Dolby Digital sound for a number of pay-per-view movies, is committed to providing the best in audio and video quality to our customers.''

``We are delighted to offer STARZ! in Dolby Digital for DISH Network's customers,'' said Leslie Nittler, senior vice president of New Media Sales and Affiliate Relations for Starz Encore. ``Since this is a first for DISH Network's premium movie service, it is yet another example of how movie lovers can look first to Starz Encore as a leader in bringing superior technology into the home.''

Consumers with the Dolby Digital S/PDIF output option in their satellite television receivers will know when a movie is being transmitted in Dolby Digital on the STARZ! east coast feed by the familiar Dolby ``trailers'' seen in Dolby-equipped movie theatres. Dolby will provide the trailers to Starz Encore for airing before each Dolby Digital transmission on STARZ!. The availability of Dolby Digital for each title will also be noted on the rating and content screen that is shown before each film.

Starz Encore Group is making Dolby Digital available to all digital cable and satellite operators.

Dolby Laboratories is the developer of signal processing systems used worldwide in applications that include motion picture sound, consumer entertainment products and media, broadcasting, and music recording. Based in San Francisco with European headquarters in England, the privately held company also has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Beijing, and Tokyo.

Starz Encore Group LLC (Starz Encore) is the largest provider of cable and satellite-delivered premium movie channels in the United States. Starz Encore owns 13 domestic channels and currently counts approximately 67 million pay units. Starz Encore offers up to 12 channels of the Starz Encore Super Pak(SM), which comprises STARZ!®, the New Encore(SM), Action, Mystery, BET Movies, Westerns, STARZ! Family®, Love Stories, True Stories, STARZ! Theater(SM), WAM!® and STARZ! Cinema(SM). Additionally, Starz Encore has the only low priced movie pak for price-sensitive consumers, the Encore Movie Pak(SM), featuring up to seven theme channels. Find programming information on the Web at www.starzencore.com. Starz Encore is a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Group.