TELETOUCH – HAWK ELECTRONICS DIV. KICKS-OFF “WHAT IF 10%” CUSTOMER AFFINITY CHARITY PROGRAM BENEFITING THE USO VIA THE ESPN BELL HELICOPTER ARMED FORCES BOWL
Extends Cellular Industry First Customer Loyalty Program
FORT WORTH – Teletouch Communications, Inc. (OTC: TLLE) Hawk Electronics division, a leading U.S. cellular services provider and consumer electronics retailer today announced that it is extending its recently introduced, cellular industry first, customer affinity and charitable donation program: “What If 10%”TM to support the USO (United Service Organization).
The “What If 10%” program allows participating Hawk Electronics customers to designate that 10% of their purchases’ net proceeds be donated to the USO, including all consumer electronics and monthly Hawk-billed cellular services. For more information on how the “What If 10%” program works, see:
www.hawkelectronics.com/whatif
T. A. “Kip” Hyde Jr., Teletouch COO, president and CEO of Hawk Electronics said, “We are pleased to extend our ground-breaking industry-first, ‘What If 10%’ customer loyalty program to generate recurring donations for the USO and provide an ongoing opportunity for Hawk customers to support our troops. While grocery and retail store affinity cards often provide rebates and donations back to local schools and other similar organizations, as a primary cellular billing services provider, we have the opportunity to use this same model for both our recurring cellular billing customers and consumer electronics customers.”
Teletouch and ESPN recently announced that Hawk Electronics had renewed its sponsorship of the ESPN-operated Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl in an exclusive deal over the next three years. A sell-out bowl game in 2007 with over 44,000 spectators, this year’s 2008 bowl game between two of the nation’s top offensive teams with a Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl history will be facing each other for the second-time this season on a neutral field. The United States Air Force Academy will meet the University of Houston on New Year’s Eve at Amon G. Carter Stadium on the TCU campus, December 31, 2008, with the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl airing live on ESPN starting at 11 a.m. (CST).
Tom Starr, the executive director of the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl added, “Once again, Kip’s team at Teletouch and Hawk Electronics is a leading force in creating novel and new ways to support our men and women in uniform. The USO is one of our primary charities, which we’ve specially chosen for Hawk’s new ‘What If 10%’ donation program. We are looking forward to a terrific game and appreciate their support of the Bowl and our troops.”
The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl is an ESPN Regional Television (ERT) owned-and-operated event. With patriotic overtones featuring all five branches of the military, the 2008 Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl will include a family-friendly Armed Forces Adventure area showcasing military hardware; a jet fly-over; a demonstration by one of the top military skydiving teams; induction ceremonies on the field; military band and honor guard marches; and the presentation of the third annual “Great American Patriot Award,” which will be awarded this year to General David H. Petraeus during halftime of the game. For more information on these activities, sponsors, teams and more, please visit the official bowl website at:
Ticket prices for the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl are $50 for sideline seats, $40 for upper deck seats and $20 for end-zone tickets. Military veterans receive half off any $50 or $40 seat and active-duty personnel get in free via the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl corporate military ticket underwriting program. A portion of local ticket sales will go to designated military charities. Tickets for this year’s game can be obtained by calling the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl office at (817) 810-0012 or by going to the Web site.
With 23 company-owned retail and agent locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, South Central and East Texas, plus its own state-of-the-art customer care and billing center, Hawk Electronics is a top independent retailer of cellular, wireless, 2-Way radio and consumer electronics in the region. For nearly 35 years, Hawk has been the brand name that Texans trust — from basic cellular voice and data services, to leading-edge smartphones, handsets and accessories, signal enhancement technologies, Bluetooth cellular hands-free car kit installations, aftermarket car stereo, XM, Sirius, DISH and DirectTV satellite entertainment, Hawk provides turn-key electronics solutions to consumers, businesses and government agencies. For store locations and more information, please visit www.hawkelectronics.com and www.teletouch.com.
About the USO
The USO (United Service Organizations) provides morale, welfare and recreational services to U.S. military personnel and their families. The USO is a nonprofit, charitable organization, relying on the generosity of the American people to support its programs and services. The USO is supported by Worldwide Strategic Partners AT&T Inc., BAE Systems, Blackwater Worldwide, Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., Clear Channel Communications, Inc., The Coca-Cola Company, Gallery Furniture, S & K Sales Co., and TriWest Healthcare Alliance. Other corporate donors, including the United Way and Combined Federal Campaign (CFC-11381), have joined thousands of individual donors to support the USO. For more information, visit:
About Teletouch Communications
For more than 40 years, Teletouch has offered a comprehensive suite of telecommunications products and services including cellular, two-way radio, GPS-telemetry, wireless messaging and public safety/emergency response vehicle products and services throughout the U.S. Teletouch’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Progressive Concepts, Inc. (PCI), is a leading provider of AT&T Mobility® services (voice, data, entertainment), as well as other mobile, portable and personal electronics products and services to individuals, businesses and government agencies. PCI operates a chain of retail stores and sells under the “Hawk Electronics” brand; through Hawk-branded sub-agents; its own direct sales force and through the Internet at various sites including: www.hawkelectronics.com, www.hawkexpress.com, among others. PCI also operates a national wholesale distribution business, known as PCI Wholesale, which serves smaller cellular and automotive retailers, car dealers and rural cellular carriers throughout the country; Dealers and Retailers see www.pciwholesale.com. Additional information on Teletouch’s Emergency Vehicle Products group can be found at www.teletouchevp.com. Teletouch’s common stock is traded Over-The-Counter under stock symbol: TLLE. Additional information about Teletouch can be found at http://www.teletouch.com
About ESPN Regional Television
ESPN REGIONAL TELEVISION/EVENT OWNERSHIP – The nation’s largest syndicator of collegiate sports programming, ESPN Regional Television (ERT) annually produces more than 900 sporting events. Programming includes football, basketball, NCAA events, golf and NHRA events accounting for more than 2,200 live and/or original hours of programming. In addition to event ownership, ERT is the production headquarters for ESPNU, the 24-hour college sports network; syndication rights-holder and producer of national, regional and local shows for college conferences (e.g. – BIG EAST, Big 12, Mid-American, Sun Belt and WAC). ESPN Regional Television markets and/or owns several other sporting events, including collegiate football events: the Papajohns.com Bowl; the Bell Helicopter Armed Forced Bowl; the Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl; the Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl, the New Mexico Bowl, the St. Petersburg Bowl; the MEAC/SWAC Challenge; and The Home Depot College Football Awards; collegiate basketball events: the O’Reilly Auto Parts All-College Classic (Oklahoma City); the Old Spice Classic (Orlando, Fla.); the BIG EAST/SEC Invitational; the Anaheim Classic (Calif.); the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off (San Juan); and the O’Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters; as well as the ESPN National Golf Challenge presented by Callaway. For more information, visit ESPNPlus.com.
