GMST just keeps rolling:
Thursday January 27, 4:59 pm Eastern Time
Gemstar and Thomson Multimedia to Pursue Opportunities in Interactive Television With ''@TV Media'' Joint Venture - Companies Expand EPG Cooperation and Will Jointly be Launching Two-Way Wireless Paging Technology in Television
Gemstar International Group Limited (NASDAQ:GMST - news) and Thomson Multimedia (NYSE:TMS - news) today announced that they have entered into a long-term agreement to jointly pursue opportunities in interactive televisions, including an extended and expanded long-term licensing and cooperative agreement for electronic program guide (''EPG'') incorporation and a new joint venture for the introduction of two-way-wireless-paging-based interactive televisions in North America.
The new venture will be known as ''@TV Media.''
Reflecting Thomson's plans to introduce and proliferate interactive television services, the new agreement extends the term of an existing EPG license agreement between Gemstar and Thomson Multimedia to the year 2010. The agreement also expands Thomson Multimedia's commitment to deploy Gemstar's EPG in Thomson devices to nearly 30 million television products in North America in the next ten years, including all Thomson televisions with screen sizes larger than 19'', and 100% of Thomson digital televisions.
In November 1997, Gemstar and Thomson Multimedia formed a joint venture, known as TDN, to pursue advertising opportunities in Gemstar's EPG deployed in consumer electronic devices. The new agreement calls for Gemstar and Thomson Multimedia to contribute their respective interests in TDN, as well as additional technologies and commitments relating to two-way wireless paging, into a new joint venture which will adopt the name ''@TV Media'' to pursue advertising and e-commerce opportunities on interactive televisions based on the return path enabled by Gemstar's two-way wireless paging technology.
The new venture will utilize Gemstar's intellectual property and technology for incorporating two-way wireless paging capabilities to effect a return path for televisions. The two-way wireless pager is expected to be incorporated in a small, mouse-like transceiver attached to the television, which can be used to receive real-time information such as breaking news, sports scores, financial updates and weather information, as well as allowing the consumer to respond to information displayed on the television. With this technology, television viewers will be able to vote for their favorite item or person, play along with a live-broadcast game, request information, or execute a purchase, all with just one click of the remote control. The consumer action will be relayed by the wireless transceiver to a remote central processing center to be acted upon or fulfilled.
In November 1998, Gemstar announced that it had received issuance of the first of a series of patents aimed at utilizing two-way wireless paging to enable television viewers to communicate to a central processing unit. Over the past few years, signal coverage of the 900 MHz wireless paging has steadily increased, and the cost of the technology has steadily decreased, making it possible to be incorporated into a mass-consumer product like a television. Advantages of using wireless paging technology as a return path for televisions include the lack of need for messy wiring, the lack of consumer resistance to connecting the telephone to another device, the fact of being ''always on,'' and the extremely low operating and ''per click'' cost compared with telephones.
''Ever since the introduction of the color television, its Holy Grail has been to find a seamless return path suitable for mass deployment. Thomson Multimedia and Gemstar are extremely excited to be the first to turn this into a reality,'' said Henry C. Yuen, chairman and chief executive officer of Gemstar. ''In addition to enabling e-commerce on televisions and legitimizing the newly coined word ''t-commerce,'' allowing the audience to participate in shows will greatly enhance the television viewing experience and improve television's bid to continue as -- by far and away -- the consumers' most favorite leisure device.''
''Television will continue to grow in importance as the entertainment portal for the home, and the addition of new services like interactive program guides greatly enhances the viewing experience. We are proud to introduce these new innovations under the same RCA banner that brought the world digital satellite receiving systems, color television, and television service itself. Working together with Gemstar, we will rapidly expand the installed base of interactive TV receivers that allow consumers to interact with new services,'' said James E. Meyer, senior executive vice-president of Thomson Multimedia.
About Thomson Multimedia:
With sales over $6 billion in 1998 and 48,000 employees in over 30 countries, Thomson Multimedia (NYSE: TMS - news) is the fourth largest global supplier of consumer electronics products. The group has four main activities: Display and Components, Consumer Products, New Media Services, Patents and Licensing. Within its activities Thomson Multimedia develops, manufactures and sells television displays and components; consumer products such as televisions, VCRs, camcorders, audio and communication products, digital decoders, and DVD players; and professional video equipment. Thomson Multimedia is the parent company of the U.S.-based Thomson Consumer Electronics, Inc. Visit Thomson Multimedia on the Web: thomson-multimedia.com.
About Gemstar International Group Limited:
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 (AOL), Americast, Cox, Daewoo, Funai, GTE, Hitachi, Hughes Network Systems, JVC, LG Electronics (Goldstar), Matsushita (Panasonic, Quasar), Microsoft Corporation, Mitsubishi, Orion, Philips (Magnavox, Philips), Quadravision, Samsung, Sharp, Shintom, Sony, Southern New England Telephone, Thomson Multimedia (GE, Proscan, RCA, Thomson), Toshiba, Uniden, US West and Zenith. Gemstar has more than 85 issued U.S. patents in the general area of audio-visual technologies with over 1,850 claims, and over 90 issued foreign patents. The Company continues to pursue a worldwide patent-prosecution program and has more than 110 pending U.S. patent applications and more than 300 pending foreign patent applications.
Gemstar is a leading provider of electronic program guide services, which allow users 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. 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 more than 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 on six continents, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, continental Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, South America and South Africa.
On October 4, 1999, Gemstar announced that it had entered into a merger agreement with TV Guide, Inc. (NASDAQ:TVGIA - news) in a stock-for-stock purchase transaction under which TV Guide will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Gemstar. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2000 subject to governmental approval.
Except for historical information contained here, the matters discussed in this news release contain forward-looking statements that 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 Securities and Exchange Commission reports, including the reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q.
EDITORS: GUIDE Plus+, VCR Plus+ and PlusCode are trademarks of Gemstar. Other product names used herein are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective companies.
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