OpenTV Develops Indy 500 Application for ESPN

SAN FRANCISCO, /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- OpenTV Corp. , a leading provider of enabling technologies for advanced digital television services, today announced that it has developed the 'ESPN 2006 Indianapolis 500 Application' and the 'Indy 500 DishHOME Mosaic' for deployment on the Dish Network. The applications will enable an enhanced experience for viewers of the Indianapolis 500 race on Sunday, May 28, 2006.

Dish Network subscribers will have access to an Indy 500-themed DishHOME Mosaic (channel 100) on race day that will feature six different in-car camera feeds, each of which may be clicked on for viewing in full-screen mode. It will feature an Indy 500 race-themed motion background and will be ESPN Interactive TV-branded.

Prior to the race, the interactive Indy 500 application will be deployed by Dish Network to its subscriber base on Thursday, May 25, 2006. The application is accessible through the "Sports" menu category in the DishHOME Mosaic (channel 100). It features several pieces of enhanced content, including quarter-screen video of the ESPNEWS channel leading up to the race day; quarter-screen video of one in-car camera during the race; driver biographies and statistics; league standings; IRL schedule; and "The Milk Tradition."

"The Indianapolis 500 is the perfect sporting event for these types of enhanced applications," said Tim Evard, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Americas for OpenTV. "Leveraging our extensive experience building interactive applications, and our close working relationship with EchoStar, we were able to design and develop this captivating application for ESPN, giving them exactly what they wanted, when they wanted it. We think the compelling nature of these types of applications, and our longtime experience in this sector, uniquely position us to offer our customers, both on the operator and the programming side, the types of advanced television solutions that help their programming stand out in today's world. We look forward to continuing these efforts with one of the world's most recognizable programming brands in ESPN."

EchoStar, which has built the world's most extensive interactive and enhanced television platform utilizing OpenTV technology, reaches more than 12 million households. With this project for ESPN, OpenTV has effectively leveraged for ESPN's benefit the highly popular Mosaic application used for multiple programming events by EchoStar.