News & Opinion

  Whole Home DVR Named Best Home Equipment at IBC   ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Sept. 13, 2013 – EchoStar Corp. (NASDAQ: SATS), a premier global provider of satellite operations and video-delivery solutions, was honored and awarded for producing the top customer premise technology, Hopper® whole-home DVR, among companies exhibiting at IBC in competition administered by Cable & Satellite International magazine. The CSI Awards is a technology competition that recognizes and rewards technological innovation in the cable, satellite, broadcast, IPTV, telco, internet/online/OTT video, mobile TV and associated sectors. Its judges, a panel of esteemed engineers and analysts, honored EchoStar products with five nominations, more than any other international vendor. Like judges for the “Best of CES” competition in Las Vegas in January, international judges were impressed by the Hopper system and its innovative features. The Hopper DVR serves as the home gateway while the “Joey” client boxes extend the DVR capabilities to additional TVs in the home. In addition Hopper, with its 2TB hard drive, is packed with advanced technologies including PrimeTime Anytime, Hopper Transfers, DISH Anywhere, and AutoHop. “We were thrilled to have five products nominated this year. Now this win truly validates the global value of our operator solutions,” said Mark Jackson, president of EchoStar Technologies L.L.C., the company’s video and broadcast arm. “We hope that consumers throughout the world will enjoy these products as much as our U.S. customers. We appreciate this honor and congratulate the other winners, as well.” Stop by the EchoStar booth at IBC to see a demo of Hopper with Sling, Hall 1 Stand F76. Visit EchoStar’s IBC page at www.echostar.com/ibc. About EchoStar Corporation EchoStar Corp. (NASDAQ: SATS) is a leading global provider of satellite operations and video delivery solutions. EchoStar's wholly-owned subsidiary, Hughes, is the world's leading provider of satellite broadband services, delivering network technologies and managed services for enterprise and government customers in more than 100 countries. Headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, with additional business units world-wide, EchoStar is a multiple Emmy award-winning company that has pioneered advancements in the set-top box and satellite industries for over 30 years, consistently delivering value for customers, partners and investors through innovation and outstanding quality. Over the last three decades EchoStar's contribution to video technology has been a major influencer in the way consumers view, receive and manage their TV programming. EchoStar's consumer solutions include HughesNet®, North America's #1 high-speed satellite Internet service, Sling Media's Slingbox® products, and EchoStar's line of advanced digital video set-top box products for the international free satellite and terrestrial viewer markets. For more information, please visit www.EchoStar.com

Bob Gold & Associates’ consumer tech PR prowess was on full display when KTLA’s Rich DeMuro featured the Power+Shell EX by ODOYO USA, on his popular consumer Tech Report. ODOYO USA engaged our firm for a media relations assignment to launch the newest tech gadget for iPhone 5 devotees with a national holiday gift guide campaign in August. The KTLA Tech Report detailed a host of cool design and protective features, as well as performance-enhancing benefits offered by this iPhone 5 battery case in two separate three-minute segments aired on the 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. morning newscasts. DeMuro called the Power+Shell EX “critical” and “very cool,” especially for anyone who travels or wants to be connected longer when out and about. Check out the segment on this link KTLA Tech Report. When KTLA news anchors Frank Buckley, Megan Henderson and Mark Kriski drooled over the gadget on air, it set a record for 1-day site traffic to ODOYOusa.com and ultimately consumers flocked to buy the product setting a one-day sales record for ODOYO USA. Nearly 9,000 KTLA viewers entered to win one of 10 Power+Shell EX products in a giveaway contest Bob Gold & Associates’ team developed with ODOYO USA and KTLA-TV. It was one of the most popular giveaways ever created as part of KTLA’s Tech Report, and proved to be a perfect way to introduce a new gadget while generating sales leading into the holiday gift buying season.

Ten top telecommunication PR agencies published by toppragencies.com for the month of September 2013. The ten top telecommunication PR services have been named by toppragencies.com for the month of September 2013. toppragencies.com provides businesses with listings online to feature the top PR services which produce talented services to businesses searching for a variety of services to common issues. Services are featured based on their achievement in a meticulous examination of their principal services. While many telecommunication PR companies are considered for the veracious evaluation process each month only the best companies are showcased in the listings. The rankings are revised each month in order to account for the latest developments and achievements of competing telecommunication PR companies in areas most commonly associated with successful telecommunication PR services. The five areas of evaluation used to determine the best companies include industry knowledge, industry experience, industry network, industry success, and needs analysis. The 10 top telecommunication public relations companies for September 2013 are: 1) Global Communicators, LLC 2) Phillips & Company 3) The Hoffman Agency 4) CooperKatz & Company, Inc. 5) MRB Public Relations, Inc. 6) Torme Lauricella Public Relations 7) Open Channels Group 8) The Cline Group 9) Bob Gold & Associates 10) Abernathy MacGregor Group, Inc. ABOUT toppragencies.com toppragencies.com is a provider of public relations information. The principal purpose of toppragencies.com is to identify and proclaim those individuals or agencies offering best public relations solutions available. Telecommunication PR agencies are put through a in-depth investigation to ensure the ratings contain the absolute best agencies the public relations industry has to offer. For the ratings of the best telecommunication public relations firms visit: Telecommunication PR firms interested in being evaluated and announced can visit:

What happens when 100,000 folks descend in Amsterdam to see the most exciting technologies making video delivery possible today at IBC? EchoStar hopes to take European audiences by storm when it brings its popular and award-winning Slingbox 350, whole-home DVR, Hopper™ with Sling®, and satellite delivery technologies to the floor of one of Europe’s biggest trade shows. EchoStar’s historical pioneering development of market solutions such as satellite spot-beam technology, end-to-end MPEG4 video delivery, placeshifting, whole home DVR sharing and VSAT data network management, have consistently set new standards in the telecommunications industry. Slingbox, the industry’s top retail “TV Everywhere” enabler, will also be unveiling its new 350 model in Europe. Slingbox moves digital content from one’s TV or DVR beyond the home to smartphones, tablets, laptops and other connected devices with 1080p HD clarity EchoStar delivers innovative products and services that power global communications, commerce and entertainment. Through its market-leading uplink centers and global engineering offices, EchoStar operates one the world’s largest and most advanced digital broadcast networks, serving more than 17 million end users every day.

Get ready now for 2014.  Our language is changing so fast due to technology. We thought it only made sense to call out the 10 Tech Terms Everyone Should Know by 2014. Augmented Reality: are applications that can display information related to areal-life situation in real time. For example, retailers are currently experimenting with augmented reality to get more customers into the stores by allowing shoppers to ‘see’ the clothes on themselves without having to actually try them on.  While some of these apps are a bit gimmicky now, they have the potential to change how we shop, train for new skills, game, build, and make other important decisions.  Selfie: is a new term that seemed to pop into everyone’s imagination around the same time as Twerk. It’s a type of self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a hand-held digital smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.  If you haven’t posted a selfie – maybe you aren’t on Facebook or any dating sites  3G / 4G LTE / 5G: The G stands for Generation, (no, this does NOT refer to Pepsi’s generation) thus typically the speed of data transmission over wireless networks increases with each generation. U.S. wireless providers are far into the process of converting their networks from 3G to 4G, as are the handset makers. For many reasons, LTE (long-term evolution) won out over WiMAX for North American cellular phone markets in 2012, thus moving all of us closer to a common broadband platform for the world. Faster data mobile speeds mean greater utility for all. Expect superfast 5G to roll out within the decade. Cloud Storage: Banks don’t have a lock on our most valuable resource (after money) which is information. Data needs to be as ubiquitous as the greenback. Hosted by a third party, data presumably is secure and accessible anywhere you have an Internet connection. The concept of a ‘cloud’ means many different resources are connected together to act as one, thereby increasing redundancy (and conceivably reliability) by creating many copies of data and storing it in many places. You thought TV networks were competitive? Just wait till next year when the fight for Cloud supremacy rages between Amazon, Dropbox, Google Drive and iCloud, among others are gearing for a battle royale!  Industrial Internet also called The Internet of Things: is the emerging communication infrastructure that connects people, data, and machines to enable access and control of mechanical devices in unprecedented ways. This stuff tends to leverage the power of Cloud Storage and computing to connect machines embedded with sensors and sophisticated software to other machines (and end users) so we can extract data, make sense of it, and find meaning where it did not exist before. This of course begs the question will God be using the Industrial Internet to stay connected to his flock?.  Big Data: is the massive amounts of data collected over time that are hard to analyze and handle using conventional database management tools. (Excel just won’t cut it!) Big Data analytics operate upon a wide range of datasets, from organized to seemingly random, like business transactions, e-mail messages, photos, surveillance videos, and cyber incident activity logs as well as content and activities on the web, such as social media. Who knows what about you? Blame it on Big Data.  Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): is the future of how we learn.  These web-based classes are aimed at large-scale global participation and open access via the Internet. MOOCs have been dubbed a potentially disruptive technology trend that poses many challenges for traditional higher education.  What’s the difference between an MIT degree and MOOC classes produced by MIT?  About $50,000 a year – just so you can earn the college credit. MOOC’s are still working on how much to charge to get college credit.   Expect MOOC’s to do for the cost of higher education what iTunes did to album sales.   Twerk: (or Twerking) Forgive us. This word is so “of the moment” We put this word in this list as our little “Easter Egg,” if you will. If it wasn’t here, would we appear cool and hip and current? If you don’t know this word by now, and what it means – you probably have never been online or watched TV in the last six months.  Being that this is a family-focused newsletter I just can’t explain it fully. You probably think Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke both suffer from Growing Pains. Yuk yuk. And if you want to see the worst Twerk EVER – watch this: Cybersecurity:  protects information and machines connected via the internet to networks from being compromised or attacked. As we migrate more of our personal and business data to cloud storage—and as cyber-physical systems connected via the Industrial Internet and next-generation wireless networks become more integrated and essential to our health, economy, society, and homeland defense—we need better methods and tools for identifying and neutralizing potential cyber threats, such as viruses and other malicious code, as well as human vulnerabilities, such as insider threats. Bitcoin – Forget dollars – they are so passé – our biggest challenge is to decide if we are planning on accepting client payments in bitcoins in 2014 because virtual currency is the next best thing to having currency, right? Bitcoins can be transferred through a computer or smartphone without an intermediate financial institution. The concept was introduced in a 2008 paper by a pseudonymous developer known only as "Satoshi Nakamoto", who called it a peer-to-peer, electronic online hard money lending system. The Winklevoss twins (famous for their Facebook lawsuits) are doing their best to capture the market in this new currency. Although bitcoin is promoted as a digital currency, many have criticized bitcoin's volatile exchange rate, relatively inflexible supply, high risk of loss, and minimal use in trade. Go figure.  Either way – bitcoins are not going away.

  LIVE ON ONE WORLD SPORTS: 3 MATCHES FROM 2 ASIAN SOCCER LEAGUES, THE NASL’S NY COSMOS VS. MINNESOTA UNITED AND NIPPON PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL ACTION What:  Only on ONE World Sports this weekend, catch live soccer action from the Chinese Super League and Japan’s J.League, as well as a live North American Soccer League match featuring the NY Cosmos vs. Minnesota. And in a live gamecast from Nippon Professional Baseball, the fourth-place Saitama Seibu Lions will be trying to make up some ground in the Pacific League when it plays the second-place Chiba Lotte Marines. When:             ONE World Sports, the English-language global sports network, will carry all of this world-class action Saturday through midnight Sunday. Saturday, Sept. 14 Time (EDT) Event Competition 2 a.m. (Live) Shimizu S-Pulse vs. Nagoya Grampus J.League 6 a.m. (Live) Kawasaki Frontale vs. Sanfrecce Hiroshima J.League 8 a.m. (Delayed) Qingdao Jonoon vs. Shandong Luneng Chinese Super League 7 p.m. (Live) NY Cosmos vs. Minnesota United North American Soccer League Monday, Sept. 16 Time (EDT) Event Competition 12 a.m. (Live) Saitama Seibu Lions vs. Chiba Lotte Marines Nippon Professional Baseball Where: ONE World Sports is available via DISH Network, Cablevision’s Optimum TV, Mediacom Communications and Google Fiber.

  That’s because Bob Gold & Associates helped the EchoStar business unit beat the holiday crush to position its Slingbox as the perfect gift for sports-nut Dads, college students living away from home and anybody else who craves TV access anywhere and everywhere. Slingbox delivers live TV via the Internet, letting viewers enjoy programming they already subscribe to by tapping into their home channel line-ups remotely. Slingbox allows unsurpassed content portability and picture quality, with SlingPlayer apps for laptops, tablets and smartphones. In collaboration with Sling Media, Bob Gold & Associates opted for an incremental roll-out of its holiday message about Slingbox. First, the agency contacted consumer magazines with “long-lead” deadlines for their holiday gift-guide special issues. We pitched hundreds of such outlets and followed up selectively with primary targets. We next contacted tech correspondents and others at national and local TV outlets, and then we went out to radio shows and podcasters. (Short-lead publications and websites will be contacted closer to the holiday season.) Collectively, this concerted media push already is showing good traction. We will continue to follow up in coming weeks and months in our campaign to deck the holiday halls with Slingboxes!

Suwanee, Ga. – September 9, 2013 – ARRIS Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARRS) and Sling Media are introducing a new media streaming device that empowers service providers to offer live (up to 4 simultaneous HD channels) and recorded content for a comprehensive multiscreen experience for their subscribers…welcome to TV anywhere. The ARRIS MS4000 (Media Streamer 4000) is powered by Sling Media technology, and will be available to all service providers deploying the ARRIS Whole Home Solution. The standalone box works with the popular ARRIS MG5000 Media Gateway Series to give subscribers the capability to watch live and recorded content on tablets, smartphones, and other mobile devices—in the home and on-the-go. “Sling Media is a pioneer and leader in content place shifting. The MS4000 is a strategic addition to our evolving follow-me TV portfolio that empowers service providers to keep pace with consumer demand,” said John Burke, SVP Corporate Strategy & Development; President Cloud Solutions Business, ARRIS. “The MS4000 combines our joint expertise with the popular Whole Home Solution platform to bring full-featured media streaming solutions to the global stage. Together, ARRIS and Sling Media are empowering service providers to go to market with the kind of media experiences that consumers demand.” A recent Sling Media customer survey found that current users of Sling Media’s retail products, the Slingbox 350 and Slingbox 500, are better connected and watch more live linear and DVR content to more devices in more places than average consumers—a desirable and increasingly demanding demographic that service providers can now address with the MS4000 platform. • Live content (sports and primetime shows) is the most watched form of content for Slingbox owners both inside and outside the home • Nearly two-thirds use their Slingbox frequently, with three-quarters of usage taking place away from home • Apple tablets and smartphones are the preferred devices for accessing content via a Slingbox “Sling Media technology is the best way to extend the entire living room TV experience anywhere and we are delighted to now be working with ARRIS, an industry leader in media gateway and broadband technology,” said Michael Hawkey, Vice President and General Manager of Sling Media. “Together we will deliver an unrivaled multiscreen video solution to MSOs and MVPDs who are looking to add more value to their current customer offerings and extend the entertainment experience beyond the living room TV.” About the MS4000 and ARRIS Whole Home Solution with MOXI The ARRIS Whole Home Solution platform also features a next-generation MOXI UI that makes finding media content as easy as surfing the Web—a perfect complement to multiscreen streaming experiences. The MS4000 will be available for sale in late Q1 2014 to all service providers deploying the ARRIS Whole Home Solution, allowing them to satisfy demand for media streaming on mobile devices. The MS4000 Media Streamer is powered by award-winning Sling place-shifting technology and serves as a companion device for the ARRIS MG5000 Media Gateway. The platform supports in-home and remote streaming to mobile devices, enabling service providers to offer live TV and DVR content experiences…anywhere. Product highlights: • Streaming to mobile devices (tablet, smartphone, PC/Mac) • In-home streaming via Wi-Fi • Support for remote streaming over cellular and WiFi networks • Support for live TV and access to DVR content • Up to 4 simultaneous HD streams • Fully integrated solution incorporating the MOXI UI, MOXI Mobile Application (iOS and Android), and ARRIS Services Portal For a preview of the MS4000 Media Streamer, visit ARRIS at IBC 2013 (Hall 1, Stand 1.D31). More information is available online. According to the Fourth Annual Media Engagement Barometer by ARRIS, people are watching more content, in more ways, on more screens than ever: globally, over half have downloaded a TV program to a mobile device, with over quarter doing so on a daily basis. On average, TV services are watched away from home, four days a week. This fundamental shift to multiscreen viewing has created an opportunity for service providers to address the demand for streaming media services and reach consumers on their favorite devices—wherever they are.

Strategic acquisition will allow service providers to use geo-located network data to improve the customer experience and achieve customer experience-driven network optimization ST LOUIS, MO ¾ September 3, 2013 ¾ Amdocs (NYSE: DOX), the leading provider of customer experience systems and services, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Actix for approximately $120 million in cash, subject to customary closing conditions. This acquisition expands Amdocs’ customer experience portfolio further into the network domain to manage customer experience across both networks and IT. The Boards of Directors of Actix and Amdocs have approved the transaction which, subject to the satisfaction of the conditions to closing, is expected to be completed by the end of September. With the acquisition of Actix, the leading independent software provider of mobile network optimization solutions, Amdocs will be expanding its CES (Customer Experience Systems) portfolio with geo-located network data that will drive a variety of optimization use cases. The acquisition will position Amdocs as the first vendor to offer customer experience-driven network optimization based on a holistic view of the customer experience across all networks, BSS and OSS (business and operational support systems). Geo-located network information provided by Actix’s solutions, combined with customer data and capabilities from Amdocs’ market-leading policy management, BSS and OSS systems, will allow service providers to support sophisticated customer experience use cases and take proactive action based on network performance to modify and improve the experience of a specific customer or group of customers. As a result, service providers will be able to differentiate the customer experience and achieve cost-efficiencies with improved automation and optimization of their existing networks, as well as when rolling out new network technologies, such as LTE and small cells. “Together, Amdocs and Actix will continue to pioneer development in network optimization, enhancing our position as the leading provider of network-independent solutions in this area,” said Bill McHale, chief executive officer of Actix. “The combination of our assets, spanning network and IT, will offer service providers the most powerful customer experience driven network optimization solution available.” “With this acquisition, Amdocs will continue to lead the way in customer experience innovation,” said Rebecca Prudhomme, vice president of product and solutions marketing for Amdocs. “Linking network knowledge to customer insight, we will continue to deliver on the promise of our CES 9 portfolio to help service providers unleash the power of experience, while delivering operational efficiencies.” Founded in 1991, Actix has employees located at offices around the world and is deployed at over 350 mobile service providers. In addition to product and solution synergies, Amdocs and Actix share numerous top tier customers. Amdocs does not expect a material impact from the acquisition of Actix, if completed, in fiscal year 2013 or fiscal year 2014 non-GAAP earnings per share (excluding acquisition related costs and equity-based compensation expense, net of related tax effects). The impact on GAAP results will not be known until after Amdocs completes the purchase price accounting for the acquisition. Amdocs may incur acquisition-related expenses in fiscal years 2013 and 2014 to account for certain costs related to the acquisition. Supporting Resources Learn more about the Amdocs CES 9 product portfolio Keep up with Amdocs news by visiting the company’s website ·         Subscribe to Amdocs’ RSS Feed and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube About Actix Actix creates software platforms that enable mobile operators to deliver better customer experiences, maximize network ROI and generate new revenues by locating, optimizing and monetizing their subscribers’ experience. Actix provides operators with real-time, geo-located, visibility and control over the Radio Access Network (RAN); the most critical part of a mobile operator’s infrastructure. With more than 20 years’ experience as a technology leader in the field of RAN analytics, optimization, Actix works with operators in more than 50 countries world-wide. For more information, visit www.actix.com About Amdocs For more than 30 years, Amdocs has ensured service providers’ success and embraced their biggest challenges. To win in the connected world, service providers rely on Amdocs to simplify the customer experience, harness the data explosion, stay ahead with new services and improve operational efficiency. The global company uniquely combines a market-leading BSS, OSS and network control product portfolio with value-driven professional services and managed services operations. With revenue of $3.2 billion in fiscal 2012, Amdocs and its 20,000 employees serve customers in more than 60 countries. Amdocs: Embrace Challenge, Experience Success. For more information, visit Amdocs at www.amdocs.com