Monday July 5, 08:00 AM Eastern time
Company Press Release
SOURCE:ValueVision International, Inc.
ValueVision and EchoStar Announce Multi-Year
Agreement To Carry ValueVision on EchoStar''s
Digital Television Service
Five-Year Agreement, in Conjunction with Other Distribution Efforts, Increases Carriage of ValueVision to an Additional 3.6 Million Homes
MINNEAPOLIS, July 5 /PRNewswire/ -- ValueVision International, Inc. (Nasdaq: VVTV) and EchoStar Communications Corporation (Nasdaq: DISH) today announced a multi-year agreement for EchoStar to carry ValueVision's home shopping network, effective immediately.
This five-year deal increases ValueVision's reach from 16 million households to approximately 18 million full-time equivalent subscribers across the United States.
Colorado-based EchoStar is one of the leading direct broadcast satellite television providers and DBS (Direct Broadcast Satellite) equipment designers and manufacturers. ValueVision's programming will be transmitted via EchoStar's state-of-the-art DISH Network(TM) DBS system, which currently serves over 2.4 million customers and is rapidly growing.
"ValueVision's greatly improved distribution and results have been achieved through major improvements in our core home shopping business, now supplemented by this distribution agreement with EchoStar," said Gene McCaffery, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of ValueVision International, Inc. "We expect this deal, in concert with our strategic alliance with NBC, will enable ValueVision to effectively leverage its existing infrastructure and cash-rich balance sheet and further improve the profitability of our home shopping operations."
. . . |
