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To: 100cfm who wrote (11312)	11/28/1999 11:47:00 AM
From: 100cfm	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 54805

Doesn't gemstar own starsight or is it echostar? and if they don't own starsight i guess thomson is playing both sides of the fence. Thomson Is Buying Interest In StarSight Plans call for joint consumer promotions StarSight is getting a much needed financial shot in the arm from Thomson, which has agreed to purchase a 13% stake for $25 million. StarSight, developer of an onscreen program-navigation system, has been struggling financially since startup and is still short of the number of service subscribers it needs to break even. Plans are to use part of Thomson's cash infusion for promotions aimed to raise consumer awareness and subscriptions, which now number "in the tens of thousands," StarSight president Larry Wangberg said. The company has derived most of its revenue to date from licensing royalties paid by manufacturers putting system chipsets into TVs, VCRs, TV/VCRs, cable-TV converters and satellite IRDs. Additionally, Thomson and Sony have gotten rights to parts of the technology, such as one-button menu recording, for their own onscreen guides used in satellite receivers, and several cable systems now use the service. The buy-in agreement lets Thomson purchase a million additional StarSight shares over two years at $7.50 each, and a million more over three years at $10 each. Thomson said it will "aggressively incorporate and promote StarSight technology and related services" in selected products, and noted that it will "be compensated for its marketing efforts and will share in StarSight revenues" from consumer electronics. Thomson said the agreement provides for "a joint marketing fund to be established to promote the StarSight-capable products." Meanwhile, Philips -- which now markets the only StarSight set-top adapter -- is linking with Gemstar to be the first to market TVs, VCRs and TV/VCR combos equipped to receive the competing TV Guide Plus onscreen program guide. Developed by Gemstar in a joint effort with TV Guide, the TV Guide Plus is to be transmitted along with the signals of ABC owned and affiliated TV stations. Although it will only offer listings for the next 48 hours of TV programming, against StarSight's seven days, the Gemstar service will be free, while StarSight and the now fully operational Video Guide services charge subscription fees.

To: 100cfm who wrote (11312)	11/28/1999 2:01:00 PM
From: Mike Buckley	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 54805

cfm, when you say that consumer product companies should not use bowling alley tactics but should market horizontally to blanket the landscape. are you saying that they should go directly to tornado tactics. ignore the customer and just ship the product. Moore doesn't spend a lot of time discussing the specific innuendo of consumer-based products, but that's the impression I've got. Take a look at page 58. if so, you've raised my concerns again about the rollout rate of guide equipped tvs or am i over obsessing with this issue. It's alwyas a good idea to over obsess about investments. :) Seriously, the current rate of product adoption is the risk and opportunity at the same time. Because the product does not seem to have enterred the tornado, I think the opportunity and risk are both higher than after it is well within the tornado. --Mike Buckley