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To: John Rieman who wrote (42391)	6/23/1999 9:53:00 PM
From: BillyG	Respond to of 50808

The model number for the Hitachi digital VHS recorder is DT-DR3000, and there is a picture of it in the June 24 China Post, page 15. It's not a small unit -- it looks like it is almost as high as the long side of a VHS tape. It uses special D-VHS tapes.

To: John Rieman who wrote (42391)	6/24/1999 12:30:00 PM
From: DiViT	Respond to of 50808

BSKYB MAY HASTEN END OF ANALOGUE 06/23/1999 Cable Europe (c) 1999 Phillips Business Information, Inc. BSkyB's new boss Tony Ball is believed to have decided on an even earlier switch-off of BSkyB's Astra analogue transponders at 19.2 degrees East than the already announced end-date of December 31 2002. According to a BSkyB source, Ball wants to bring forward the date "considerably" and feels there is a "compelling argument in favour of digital despite the high investment in the free boxes." BSkyB currently has analogue contracts at 19.2 degrees with Astra "until at least year-end 2002, and has retained the option of extending the contracts beyond this date," according to Astra operator SES in March this year. At the start of May, BSkyB said it had 551,000 digital subscribers. Last week, it was reported that BSkyB's board (which appointed Rupert Murdoch as chairman, replacing Jerome Seydoux) was told that the figure currently stood at 800,000. According to BSkyB, the savings - estimated at some Pounds 50 million a year - plus the higher revenues per digital subscriber would make an early curtailment an easy decision to take, although no specific target date has been set. But if BSkyB were to switch off by the end of 2001 it would mean barely 30 months to complete the replacement of some three million existing analogue STBs, as well as keeping pace with new (non-converting) subscribers to digital. BSkyB believes its set - top suppliers can cope with this demand, and perhaps more importantly, it is now confident that its installation crews and customer service representatives can handle these volumes and is staffing up to cope with increased demand. "We are confident the box- makers can supply our needs," said the BSkyB source. Sources within the aerial installer industry have indicated that BSkyB will double the number of installers working for it to cope with installation demands. It is known that Pace Micro Technology can cope with a production of one million boxes per annum from its Saltaire plant alone, plus supplies from non-UK based factories. Additionally BSkyB said it is making "real headway" in converting existing cable subscribers. BSkyB see itself as having a "great opportunity" to access analogue cable homes in particular with its News Corp-backed telephony deal which offers subscribers a potential 40 per cent savings on calls. "The conversion we are picking up is greater than we estimated," said the source. BSkyB's next formal announcement opportunity is at the quarterly results statement slated for August 10, when its own Sky Interactive service will be available with Open... following on a few weeks later, providing what BSkyB called a "compelling argument for digital subscribers."