EchoStar's DVR Earns Top Honors From CEA; Sling Media's SlingCatcher Snags 2008 International CES Best of Innovations Design and Engineering Award, SlingPlayer Software Named as Honoree

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Jan 7, 2008 (PrimeNewswire via COMTEX News Network) -- EchoStar Holding Corporation (Nasdaq:SATS) announced today the company was honored with the International CES Innovations 2008 Design and Engineering Award for the conversion of the ViP211 into a digital video recorder (DVR). EchoStar also announced that its subsidiary Sling Media Inc.'s SlingCatcher(tm) received the prestigious 2008 CES Best of Innovations Award in the Multi-Room category. In addition, Sling Media's SlingPlayer(tm) 2.0 software was selected as an Innovations 2008 Design and Engineering honoree in the Portable Media Players product category.

The Innovations Awards are given by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) to recognize the most innovative consumer electronics products as judged by an independent panel of industrial designers, engineers and members of the trade press.

EchoStar's ViP211 conversion allows DishHD customers without a DVR to easily convert their HD satellite receiver to function as a DVR by activating the USB 2.0 port on the ViP211 set-top box and connecting it to any off-the-shelf external hard drive. The external hard drive connection changes the existing ViP211 interface into a DVR interface that includes search capabilities by theme or keyword. The electronic program guide also expands from a two-day guide to a nine-day guide.

"We are constantly finding news ways to add new features to our existing technology," said Mark Jackson, President of EchoStar Holding Corporation. "Our engineers are taking our award-winning technology products and they are combining them with external media devices to enhance our customers' entertainment experience. This is just the first of many innovations we will be introducing in 2008."

A converted ViP211 operates similar to other award-winning EchoStar DVRs. Users have the ability to record instantly at the touch of a button, view one program while recording another, play stored programming while recording from both tuners, use search-based timer capability, pause live TV for up to 60-minutes, and enjoy DVR features such as rewind and fast forward. DISH Network customers that wish to activate the external hard drive for the DVR feature will be charged a one-time fee of $39.99 per household. The ViP211 DVR conversion feature will be available to DISH Network customers later this year

A new set-top box from Sling Media, the SlingCatcher is designed to deliver rich video experiences to a television located in the home as well as in remote locations. The SlingPlayer(tm) for TV application built into the SlingCatcher delivers a way for customers to move TV content around the home or access content from the home remotely via a TV without a PC or Mac. The SlingProjector(tm) application -- bundled with every SlingCatcher -- takes a radically new approach to bringing web and PC-based content to the television by enabling the consumer to wirelessly project any web site or digital audio/video format onto their TV.

Sling Media's SlingPlayer 2.0 software application connects consumers to their Slingbox(tm) and allows them to remotely control their home entertainment system as they would from their own living room. The latest version improves upon the software's original place-shifting features and adds new features including access to Sling Media's most innovative service yet, Clip+Sling(tm). Clip+Sling lets Slingbox customers create clips of their favorite shows and instantly share them with friends and family. Other additions include a built-in Electronic Program Guide that lets users navigate channels with ease and a time-shifting buffer, which adds DVR functionality to the SlingPlayer experience, giving users the ability to pause, rewind and fast-forward programming from their PC, even if the Slingbox is not connected to a DVR.

"We are incredibly excited to bring SlingCatcher and SlingPlayer 2.0 to the public because these products redefine the way we can find and watch and share the content we love -- whether it is coming right from the Internet, from your personal digital files, or from your DVR," said Sling Media CEO, Blake Krikorian. "It is an honor to receive this recognition from the Consumer Electronics Association."

The Innovations Design and Engineering Awards began in 1989 as a way to recognize outstanding achievements in product design and engineering. Judges look for aesthetic and design qualities, unique and novel features, and how a product contributes to the consumer's way of life, among other things. The CEA sponsors the awards and also produces the International CES, the world's largest consumer technology tradeshow. The awards are endorsed by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA).

Innovations honorees were named at the CES Unveiled event in New York in November 2007 and are showcased at the 2008 International CES, Jan. 6-10, 2008 in Las Vegas, NV.

About EchoStar Holding Corporation

EchoStar Holding Corporation (Nasdaq:SATS) is a publicly traded company that spans 25 years of superior technology in innovative software, DVR, connectivity, end-to-end systems, place shifting and volume pricing. EchoStar Holding Corporation operates two primary businesses: a digital set-top box business and a fixed satellite services business. The set-top box business designs, develops and distributes set-top boxes and related products for direct-to-home satellite service providers, including Sling Media. The fixed satellite services business is comprised of nine owned or leased in-orbit satellites and related FCC licenses, a network of seven full-service digital broadcast centers, and leased fiber optic capacity with points of presence in approximately 150 cities. Visit www.echostar.com for more information.

About Sling Media

Sling Media, Inc. is a digital lifestyle products company creating a family of consumer electronics solutions that are a natural extension of today's digital way of life. The first member of the Sling Media family is the award-winning Slingbox(tm), a device that allows consumers to access their familiar living room experience at any time, from any location, using a variety of different displays including laptops and desktop PCs and Macs, PDAs and smartphones. For more information on Sling Media or the Slingbox, visit www.slingmedia.com.

This news release was distributed by PrimeNewswire, www.primenewswire.com

SOURCE: EchoStar Holding Corporation

EchoStar
         Parker C. McConachie
         (720) 514-5351
         press@echostar.com
         
         Sling Media, Inc.
         Brian Jaquet
         (650) 293-8000
         jaquet@slingmedia.com

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