EchoStar Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) and its DISH Network® satellite TV service today announced that it has entered into an agreement with ZEE TV USA to launch the 24-hour sports channel ZEE Sports America. ZEE Sports America will provide coverage of South Asian sports such as Indian football, cricket, golf, and motor sports including ZEE's award-winning original productions such as the Daily Sports News, Sports Café, Football Café, Sports Sunday, World Motor Sports Magazine, Twenty Two Yards, Cricket Talk, and Cricket First.

"We are very pleased to offer ZEE Sports America as part of DISH Network's programming line-up. DISH Network is a leader in providing entertainment and movie channels to the South Asian community in the U.S. and today it adds a sports channel to that line-up. DISH Network provides over 30 South Asian and Urdu channels, in nine languages servicing the Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan communities. We view the addition of ZEE Sports America to our family of South Asian channels as further evidence to our commitment to be a leader in South Asian programming," stated Eric Sahl, senior vice president of Programming for EchoStar.

"ZEE Sports is the first homegrown Indian sports channel and through its grassroots activities redefines the traditional role of a television channel. Launching in the U.S. is the first step in its continued attempts to spread its wings," stated Himanshu Mody, CEO, ZEE Sports.

"This is a very important channel to the South Asian community in the U.S. and we are very pleased to expand on our long term relationship with DISH Network that dates back to 1998. ZEE Sports programming is broadcast today throughout South Asia and with the launch of this channel much of that quality content will now be available to the South Asian community in the U.S.," stated S. Venkatasubramanian, Head of Americas, ZEE Network.

ZEE Sports America was launched on DISH Network September 26, 2007 on channel 576.

About ZEE TV USA

ZEE TV USA manages the Americas business of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., India's largest vertically integrated media company. ZEE NETWORK channels span the globe and reach over 300 million viewers in over 80 countries. ZEE TV USA, Inc. commenced operations in 1998 and within a decade has achieved dominant market leadership in the South Asian segment in the Americas. It operates four 24x7 South Asian television networks, ZEE TV, ZEE CINEMA, ALPHA ETC PUNJABI and ZEE GUJARATI. ZEE SPORTS AMERICA is the fifth television channel from its stable.

About EchoStar Communications Corporation

EchoStar Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) has been a leader for more than 26 years in satellite TV equipment sales and support worldwide. The Company's DISH Network™ is the fastest-growing pay-TV provider in the country since 2000 and currently serves more than 13.585 million satellite TV customers. DISH Network offers a premier line of industry-leading Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) and hundreds of video and audio channels as well as the most national HD and International channels in the U.S., Interactive TV, Latino and sports programming. DISH Network also provides a variety of package and price options including the lowest all-digital price in America and the DishDVR Advantage Package. EchoStar is included in the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) and is a Fortune 300 company. Visit www.echostar.com or call 1-800-333-DISH (3474) for more information.