WAVO News!!
WavePhore and General Instrument Announce Plan to Develop Digital Television
Information Services
PR Newswire - April 15, 1999 13:52
WavePhore's WaveTop Service and Network and General Instrument's ATSC Encoding System to Serve as Basis for Bringing Internet
Content to Television Viewers
PHOENIX, April 15 /PRNewswire/ -- WavePhore, Inc. (Nasdaq: WAVO) and General Instrument (NYSE: GIC) announced today a plan
to provide digital television information services based on WavePhore's WaveTop service and network and GI's DTV Encoding System.
WaveTop provides users with multimedia programming, including news, sports, investment advice, shopping, children's programming and
much more, all supplied by a growing list of more than 30 of the Internet's leading content providers.
General Instrument Corporation is the world leader in analog and digital systems that provide video, audio and high-speed Internet/data
services over cable, broadcast, and satellite TV networks. WavePhore's WaveTop service launched in June 1998 for the PC platform and
is currently available to the more than 6 million personal computers equipped with TV tuner cards.
"We are very pleased to enter into this alliance with General Instrument," said David E. Deeds, chairman, president and CEO of
WavePhore, Inc. "GI has developed a high performance digital HDTV and SDTV ATSC encoder which is already used by leading
broadcasters. This new cooperative development effort will enable us to reach the broadest possible audience of home consumers with our
WaveTop service. The ability to provide our Internet information for enhanced television will create many new revenue opportunities."
Using the combined technology from WavePhore and General Instrument, broadcasters will be able to configure their own, localized content
in addition to offering WaveTop's turnkey data service. Taking advantage of the wide bandwidth and ease of integration of digital services
into the new ATSC/DTV signal, broadcasters can deliver an array of new and visually compelling services to their viewership. Using a
simple browser interface, users can rapidly interact with automatically downloaded information -- which can be filtered according to user
preferences. In addition to Internet content, broadcasters will have the ability to incorporate ATVEF-compliant enhanced television
programming into their transmissions over terrestrial or cable networks.
"This is an excellent example of digital convergence enabling us to expand the services that we can offer our customers," said Tom Lynch,
Senior Vice President and General Manager of GI's Satellite and Broadcast Network Systems business unit. "We are very excited about
this opportunity to work with WavePhore."
RICH CONTENT
WaveTop's multimedia content providers are among the world's leading media companies, including USA Today, The Wall Street Journal,
The Weather Channel, Fox News, Warner Bros. Online, CBS SportsLine and many others. The media partners' content is organized into
channels appealing to the whole family. WaveTop channels include News -- the latest in news, sports, and weather; Finance -- providing
regularly updated stock information and business news; Sports -- the latest sports scores, information and news; Fun -- the latest samples of
games and music, plus comics and best-seller books lists; Kids -- entertaining interactive educational content from brand-name, children-
oriented providers; Life -- the information spot for parents and working women; Tech -- the latest technology news, magazines and review,
plus an offloads center for free software, shareware and bug fixes; and Store -- an electronic mall featuring enhanced multimedia storefronts
from leading merchants.
ABOUT WAVEPHORE
WavePhore, Inc. (Nasdaq: WAVO) is in the business of moving media. It partners with the foremost providers of news, business data,
Internet based content and multimedia programming to deliver selective intelligence and quality content to an information-dependent society.
Additional information on WavePhore is available via the Internet at www.wavephore.com.
ABOUT GENERAL INSTRUMENT
General Instrument Corporation (NYSE: GIC) is a leading worldwide provider of integrated and interactive broadband access solutions,
teaming with its business partners to lead the convergence of the Internet, telecommunications and video entertainment industries. Visit the
General Instrument web site at www.gi.com
Certain of the above statements regarding WavePhore constitute forward- looking statements, which may involve risks and uncertainties.
Actual results could differ materially from such forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including, but not limited to,
technology changes, competitive developments, industry and market acceptance of new products and services, and risk factors listed from
time to time in WavePhore's SEC filings.
SOURCE WavePhore, Inc.
/CONTACT: Media: Patrick Ford, Senior VP Marketing and Product
Development, 602-952-5500 ext. 360, pford@wavetop.net, or Investor Relations:
Jennifer Schreier, 602-952-5500 ext. 239, jschreier@wavephore.com, both of
WavePhore; or Media: Sharon Corbitt, Director of Communications, 215-323-1873,
scorbitt@gi.com, or Investor Relations: Dario Santana, VP, Investor Relations,
215-323-1617, dsantana@gi.com, both of General Instrument/
/Company News On-Call: prnewswire.com or fax,
800-758-5804, ext. 107524/
/Web site: gi.com
/Web site: wavephore.com
(WAVO GIC)
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