Tuesday July 6, 8:59 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Gemstar and Americast Execute Long-Term License Agreement
PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 6, 1999--Gemstar International Group Limited (NASDAQ:GMST - news) announced Tuesday that it has entered into a long-term license agreement with Americast Corporate Media Partners, a joint venture of Ameritech Corporation, BellSouth Corporation, GTE Corporation, Southern New England Telecommunications Corporation and the Walt Disney Company, under which Americast will exclusively deploy Gemstar's electronic program guide (EPG) in its digital services.
''We are pleased that Americast selected the Gemstar EPG as a key element of their home entertainment service,'' said Henry Yuen, chairman and chief executive officer of Gemstar. ''We are impressed with the Americast technology and we believe that it will play a major role in enhanced home video entertainment.''
''We are excited to be working with Gemstar,'' said Mark Handler, President, Disney TeleVentures.
Americast is the programming venture of Ameritech Corp., BellSouth Corp., GTE Corp., Southern New England Telecommunications Corp., and The Walt Disney Company created to develop and market the next generation of home entertainment. The americast® service is currently being offered in select markets across the United States. In addition to providing traditional entertainment services, the americast® service offers enhanced services such as Near-Video-On-Demand. Disney TeleVentures is the unit within The Walt Disney Company charged with fulfilling the creative, programming, marketing, and technology functions Disney performs in connection with the Americast venture.
Gemstar develops, markets and licenses proprietary technologies and systems aimed at making technology user-friendly for consumers. Gemstar's technology and intellectual property are licensed to major companies in the consumer electronics, satellite, cable and personal computer industries, including Aiwa, Akai, America Online, Cox, Daewoo, Funai, GTE, Hitachi, Hughes Network Systems, JVC, LG Electronics (Goldstar), Matsushita (Panasonic, Quasar), Microsoft Corporation, Mitsubishi, Orion, Philips (Magnavox, Philips), Samsung, Sanyo, Scientific-Atlanta, Sharp, Shintom, Sony, Southern New England Telephone, Thomson multimedia (GE, Proscan, RCA, Thomson), Time Warner, Toshiba, Uniden and Zenith. Gemstar has 75 issued U.S. patents in the general area of audio-visual technologies with over 1,500 claims and 70 foreign patents with over 1,000 claims. The Company continues to pursue a worldwide patent prosecution program and has more than 130 pending U.S. patent applications and over 160 pending foreign patent applications.
Gemstar is a leading provider of electronic program guide services, which allow a user to view a television program guide on screen, obtain details about a show, sort shows by themes or categories, and select shows for tuning or recording, all through the remote control. In the United States, data for Gemstar's electronic program guide services are carried on the ABC, FOX, CBS, NBC, UPN and PBS networks, by hundreds of over-the-air broadcast stations and on a number of cable networks. Gemstar's electronic program guide has been built into a number of models of new televisions, VCRs and TV/VCR combination units. Gemstar's electronic program guide is also licensed to cable, telco and MMDS service providers, and has been integrated into direct broadcast satellite receivers, digital and advanced analog cable set-top boxes, PCTV and other Internet devices, and computer operating systems such as Windows 98.
Gemstar's VCR Plus+® instant programming system is a world standard for VCR programming. The VCR Plus+ system allows a user to record a television show simply by entering a number -- the PlusCode® number -- printed in television program guides. The PlusCode numbers are published by over 1,800 newspapers and television program guides worldwide, with a combined circulation of over 330 million. The VCR Plus+ system has been licensed to virtually every major television and VCR manufacturer and is now available in 40 countries and 6 continents, including the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Continental Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South America and South Africa.
Except for historical information contained here, the matters discussed in this news release contain forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties, including the timely availability and acceptance of new products, the impact of competitive products and pricing, the management of growth, and the other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including the report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 1999.
EDITORS: GUIDE Plus+, VCR Plus+ and PlusCode are registered trademarks of Gemstar Development Corporation. Other product names used herein are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective companies.
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Contact:
Gemstar International Group Limited
Linda Lloyd da Silva, 626/792-5700 (Investor Relations)
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