Page "Dish Network" Paragraph 24

After EchoStar obtained the broadcasting assets of a failed joint venture between ASkyB and MCI WorldCom, it had more than doubled its capacity by adding 28 transponders at the 110 ° W orbital location.

Since EchoStar also owned the adjacent 119 ° W orbital location it developed the Dish 500 to receive the signals of both orbital locations using one Dish and an innovative dual-LNB assembly.

Although the new 20-inch Dish 500 was slightly larger than the then-current 18-inch Dish 300 and DirecTV Dishes it had the distinct advantage of obtaining signals from EchoStar's two adjacent satellite locations for a theoretical 500-channel capacity.

The Dish 500, as a result, provided very large capacity for local-into-local service, nationwide programming, and business services.

In order to migrate existing customers to Dish 500, Dish Network provides value-added channels in addition to local channels that can only be received with the Dish 500 and newer systems.

Some of these channels exclusive to these newer systems are H2, Boomerang, Science, Planet Green, and Comedy Central.