Here's Lehman's second source box for TCI. That deal didn't happen, but at $200 by the end of 1999, and available next summer????????????????????????????????
multichannel.com
Pace is apparently pinning its hopes for a recovery largely on a new generation of digital set-top boxes that will be built both for the U.S. cable market and for DVB-compliant (the European Digital Video Broadcast standard) systems in Latin America and other world markets. In the United States, Pace plans to market a GI-compatible version -- believed to fall somewhere between GI's DCT-2000 and DCT-5000 boxes in capabilities -- to cable operators looking for a second source besides GI.
The box should be ready to ship by the second quarter of 1999, Roberts said, adding that pricing should be "substantially" below that for the product that the company has been marketing. That box, sources said, has been offered for somewhat less than $300.
While not commenting on the current digital box, Roberts said that by the end of 1999, Pace should be "very close" to a $200 price point for at least some versions of the new box. And that, he said, should get Pace in the door with at least some U.S. operators.
"We want to get our money back," he added, speaking of the licensing fees paid to GI, as well as the development costs for Pace's first GI-based digital set-top box.
"They still have some contacts in the U.S.," noted one cable-industry executive familiar with Pace's negotiations with cable operators. "I don't think that the situation with TCI [Tele-Communications Inc., which was expected to be Pace's first significant U.S. customer] will be repeated with other operators."
In contrast to the Denver office, Pace's Miami-based operation has been the focal point of continuing sales to News Corp.-led direct-to-home venture Sky Latin America. Roberts said the company has shipped roughly 360,000 DTH receivers to date, worth more than $100 million in sales.
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