Contact: Brent Wilkes, (202) 833-6130

For Immediate Release: February 8, 2002

Washington, DC - The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) today announced its support for the proposed merger between satellite television providers EchoStar and DIRECTV. In letters to Attorney General John Ashcroft and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell, LULAC President Rick Dovalina said the proposed merger would provide improved communications services to the nation's Hispanic community, including access to affordable high speed Internet service and improved Spanish-language programming.

"The goal of LULAC's Empower Hispanic America with Technology project is to break down the digital divide that keeps telecommunications technology out of reach of Hispanic Americans," Dovalina wrote. "We believe this merger is the best way to provide access to affordable high speed Internet service - broadband - to Hispanic families."

The digital divide puts millions of the nation's Latinos - especially those living in rural areas - at a great technological and educational disadvantage, according to Dovalina. He said the merger will allow for the necessary investment in technology to deploy satellite-delivered broadband, service that other industries have been unable to provide. Used by millions of rural Americans for television programming today, direct broadcast satellite (DBS) technology is not constrained by long distances to rural homes and businesses.

"We are concerned that, absent the merger, nationwide satellite broadband service will not be realized for many years," Dovalina said. "As a matter of national technology policy, it is unacceptable to create a situation whereby only homes that are passed by digital cable or fiber-optic telephone lines have broadband access when such service could also be made available to all homes via a satellite alternative."

Over the years both EchoStar's DISH Network and Hughes' DIRECTV have offered the most extensive selection of all-digital Spanish-language news, sports, movies and music channels available in the U.S. today, such as TV AZTECA, Cine Latino, HTV, FOX Sports World en Español and other popular networks from Mexico, South America, Spain and the United States with over 20 channels of all Spanish programming. The pending merger will create additional satellite capacity that would enable EchoStar to provide additional Spanish language programming to serve the growing Hispanic and Latino communities in the United States.

"We believe this merger is pro-consumer, pro-competition, and would put fast, affordable, broadband service into the Hispanic communities across the country," concluded Dovalina.

The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) is the oldest and largest Latino civil rights organization in the United States. LULAC advances the economic condition, educational attainment, political influence, health, and civil rights of Hispanic Americans through community-based programs operating at more than 700 LULAC councils nationwide.