CQMT - CHEQUEMATE INTL INC "The real Alpha"
"The remaining AlphaStar and AlphaStar Television assets, including the Milton, Ont., and Oxford, Conn., uplink stations, and real estate, manufacturing facilities, and the inventory of set-top decoder boxes and antennas, will be offered for sale by the receiver and AlphaStar Television over the next few weeks, Ernst & Young said."
Tee-Comm Electronics Inc.
TSE: ''TEN'' NASDAQ: ''TENXF''
AlphaStar signs off in latest satellite setback
AlphaStar signs off in latest satellite setback
Thursday, August 7, 1997
By Geoffrey Rowan
The Globe and Mail
At 3 a.m. today, the television screens of subscribers to Canada's first direct-to-home TV service, AlphaStar Canada Inc., went blank, ending a sorry chapter in the competition to bring satellite TV to Canadians.
"We had until Aug. 5 to come up with a buyer for all the [AlphaStar] assets," said Brian Denega, senior vice-president for Ernst & Young, the receiver for the now defunct company.
"We attempted to run a process that was exhaustive and sought bids from anybody who wished to buy it as a going concern and keep it alive," Mr. Denega said, "but there were no bids."
AlphaStar had about 7,000 subscribers in Canada, and about 60,000 in the United States, where it did business as a subsidiary of Tee-Comm Electronics Inc. of Milton, Ont., under the name of AlphaStar Television Networks Inc.
AlphaStar Television sought protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code on May 27. AlphaStar's parent, Tee-Comm, went into receivership June 4, never recovering from a break with Canada's original satellite television consortium, ExpressVu Inc. Expressvu has yet to launch a service but says it will this September.
AlphaStar subscribers continued receiving TV signals, even as the Canadian receiver and U.S. courts tried to find a buyer who would keep the service running.
The lack of any bid for AlphaStar and AlphaStar Television, based in Stamford, Conn., by the Aug. 5 deadline triggered another deal.
Now, Loral Space & Communications Ltd., a unit of New York's Loral Corp., will buy back satellite transponders that it leased to AlphaStar Television on its Telstar 402R and Telstar 5 satellites, receiver Ernst & Young said.
The Loral buyback agreement calls for a transfer of value to AlphaStar of $8.7-million (U.S.), including a cash component of $5-million, plus a share of the profit earned by Loral through its re-leasing of the Telstar 5 satellite transponders to other companies.
AlphaStar Television will receive between 35 and 50 per cent of any such future profit, depending on the average contract term of the new leases entered between Loral and other companies.
Ernst & Young said the agreement also entitles Loral to be paid $7.3-million under a letter of credit held by it in satisfaction of AlphaStar's rent arrears to Loral.
The remaining AlphaStar and AlphaStar Television assets, including the Milton, Ont., and Oxford, Conn., uplink stations, and real estate, manufacturing facilities, and the inventory of set-top decoder boxes and antennas, will be offered for sale by the receiver and AlphaStar Television over the next few weeks, Ernst & Young said.
Back to the top of the page
We welcome your comments.
Copyright © 1997, The Globe and Mail Company ®
All rights reserved.
******************
******************************************************
Tee-Comm is the parent company of AlphaStar US and AlphaStar Canada.
Tee-Comm/AlphaStar Internet Web Page
Click to Return to Hot Satellite News
Click to Return to HC Satellite Home Page
Truthseeker only speaks the truth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sponsored by The Alexander Law Firm.
For help and/or information on a particular stock or security, please fill out this questionnaire.
Tee-Comm Electronics, Inc.
On February 3, 1998, a class action lawsuit was filed on February 3, 1998, in the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, on behalf of all persons who purchased or otherwise acquired the common stock of Tee-Comm Electronics, Inc. ("Tee-Comm" or the "Company") between July 31, 1996 and May 27, 1997, inclusive (the "Class Period"). The complaint charges the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Tee-Comm, among others, during the relevant time period, with violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, by, among other things, issuing to the investing public materially false and misleading statements and press releases concerning Tee-Comm's satellite television division, AlphaStar Television Network, Inc. ("AlphaStar"). Specifically, the complaint alleges that, at all relevant times, defendants issued a series of statements which portrayed Tee-Comm and Alphastar in highly positive terms while failing to disclose that the Company was rapidly running out of cash, was not generating sufficient new subscribers and revenue to continue as a going concern and was nearing insolvency. Because of the issuance of a series of materially false and misleading statements and press releases concerning Tee-Comm's financial condition and the operations of AlphaStar, the price of Tee-Comm common stock was artificially inflated during the Class Period. On May 27, 1997, Tee-Comm issued a press release announcing that the Company's lender had demanded immediate repayment of all existing credit facilities and that its Board of Directors had resigned. That same day, Tee-Comm announced that AlphaStar had filed for bankruptcy. In response to these announcements, on May 27, 1997, the price of Tee-Comm stock closed down at $0.50 per share, a decline of 95% from a Class Period high of $10.1875 reached on September 16, 1996. Thereafter, Tee-Comm's U.S. divisions all filed for bankruptcy. On June 3, 1997, trading in the Company's stock was halted and, subsequently, it was delisted from trading on NASDAQ.
securities.stanford.edu
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF CONNECTICUT
____________________________________ )
ISAAC BTESH on behalf of )
himself and all others similarly ) CASE NO. 398CV00213
situated, ) [filed Feb. 3, 1998]
)
Plaintiff, ) CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT
) FOR VIOLATIONS OF
v. ) FEDERAL SECURITIES LAWS
)AL BAHNMAN, JAMES WILKINSON, )
DAVE CHARLES and MURRAY )KLIPPENSTEIN, )
) Defendants. )
____________________________________)
Plaintiff makes the following allegations upon
information and belief, except as to allegations specifically
pertaining to plaintiff and his counsel, based on the facts
alleged below, predicated upon the investigation undertaken by
and under the supervision of plaintiff's counsel, and plaintiff
believes that further substantial evidentiary support will exist
for the allegations set forth below after a reasonableopportunity for discovery.
NATURE OF THE ACTION
1. This is a class action on behalf of all purchasers
of the common stock of Tee-Comm Electronics, Inc. ("Tee-Comm" or
the "Company") between July 31, 1996, and May 27, 1997,
inclusive, (the "Class Period"), seeking to pursue remedies under
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act"). This
action concerns the dissemination of materially false and
misleading statements relating to Tee-Comm's satellite television
division, AlphaStar Television Network, Inc. ("Alphastar").
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JURISDICTION AND VENUE
2. The claims asserted herein arise under and
pursuant to Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act [15
U.S.C. §§ 78j(b) and 78t(a)] and Rule 10b-5 promulgated
thereunder by the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") [17
C.F.R. § 240.10b-5]. 3. This Court has jurisdiction over the subject
matter of this action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§1331 and 1337, and
Section 27 of the Exchange Act [15 U.S.C. §78aa].
4. Venue is proper in this District pursuant to Sec-
tion 27 of the Exchange Act, and 28 U.S.C. §1391(b). Tee-Comm's
97%-owned subsidiary, Alphastar, maintains its principal
executive offices in this District and the acts charged herein,
including the preparation and dissemination of materially false
and misleading information, occurred in substantial part in thisDistrict.
5. In connection with the acts alleged in this com-
plaint, defendants, directly or indirectly, used the means and
instrumentalities of interstate commerce, including, but not
limited to, the mails, interstate telephone communications and
the facilities of the national securities markets.
PARTIES
6. Plaintiff Isaac Btesh, as set forth in the
accompanying certification which is incorporated by reference
herein, purchased Tee-Comm common stock at artificially inflated
prices during the Class Period and has been damaged thereby.
- 2 -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. (a) Tee-Comm, which is not a party herein because
of its recent voluntary filing of bankruptcy, is a corporation
incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act with its
principal executive offices at 775 Main Street East, Milton
Ontario. Tee-Comm describes itself as a manufacturer and
distributor of direct-to-home ("DTH") products in North America,
offers analog DTH programming services in Canada through TCI Home
Entertainment and offers digital DTH services in the United
States through Alphastar.
(b) Tee-Comm has several subsidiaries that
conduct business in the United States. Tee-Comm Inc., a Delaware
corporation, is a holding company that holds all of the shares of
Tee-Comm Distribution, Inc. -- a New York corporation that sells
the Company's DTH products through third-party distributors.
Alphastar, a Delaware corporation, was formed in March 1995 to
offer DTH service in the United States. On May 27, 1997,
Alphastar filed a voluntary petition for Bankruptcy.
8. (a) The individual defendants identified below
served, at all times material to the claims set forth herein, as
senior officers and/or directors of Tee-Comm in the positions set
forth opposite their names (the "Individual Defendants"):
Name Position
---- --------
Al Bahnman Chairman and CEO of Tee-Comm
James Wilkinson Chief Financial Officer of
Tee-Comm
Murray Klippenstein President and CEO of AlphaStar
[until March 5, 1997]
Dave Charles President and CEO of AlphaStar
- 3 -
--
|
