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To: Bill Harmond who wrote (73482)	8/12/1999 8:22:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 164684

TV coalition wants digital recorders to pay fees By Scott Hillis LOS ANGELES, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Major television and cable broadcasters on Thursday formed a coalition that is threatening to sue the makers of new digital television recorders unless they pay licensing fees. CBS Corp. <CBS.N>, The Walt Disney Co. <DIS.N>, News Corp. <NCP.AX>, Time Warner Inc. <TWX.N>, and Discovery Communications Inc. said their Advanced Television Copyright Coalition aimed to protect the rights of networks and content owners in the face of the new devices. Two companies, TiVo Inc. and Replay Networks, both privately held, are making the recorders, which resemble VCRs but use computer hard drives instead of cassette tapes to store up to 30 hours of programs. The appliances enable users to pause and restart live TV, create personalized program screens that display only the shows a viewer is interested in, and fast-forward through commercials -- features that have alarmed an industry reliant on advertising and promotional dollars. Carrying price tags of around $500 for low-end models, the devices are expected to catch on only slowly at first. But sales are seen hitting a total of 14 million units by 2004, according to Forrester Research Inc. The broadcasters group said the "personal television" companies could insert their own commercials in place of network ones, and cited a Forrester report as saying the products could halve TV ad viewing within 10 years. While several of the coalition members, including CBS, Disney and Discovery, have taken minority stakes in TiVo, the group said the new personal television services should be subject to copyright licensing laws. "Broadcast and cable/satellite networks are compilations of copyrighted material protected under the Copyright Act, and those who build businesses around decompiling, excerpting or modifying them in any way must negotiate for and acquire the appropriate rights," the coalition said in a statement. The group said it supported the growth of personal TV but warned it was ready to take the issue to the courts if such companies failed to meet their copyright demands. "The Coalition is hopeful that our issues of concern will be resolved amicably," it said. "We are, of course, prepared to support litigation and to explore legislative solutions should this prove impossible." A TiVo spokeswoman had no immediate comment and Replay TV officials could not be reached. Two other TiVo investors, cable company Viacom Inc. <VIA.N> and broadcaster NBC, which is owned by General Electric Co. <GE.N> , did not join the coalition. An NBC spokeswoman declined to comment. The network said with great fanfare in June that it was taking a multimillion dollar stake in TiVo, saying the device held great promise to deliver highly targeted advertising. REUTERS Rtr 20:03 08-12-99

To: Bill Harmond who wrote (73482)	8/12/1999 8:24:00 PM
From: KeepItSimple	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

>You're not being realistic if you're only considering the worst case. And every analyst justification for the internuts' current market valuations only considers the best case- perfect execution for the next 5 years and unlimited access to capital to burn through. Who's the one that's not being realistic here?