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To: BillyG who wrote (26823)	12/17/1997 5:23:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 50808

The DCT-5000.................................. mediacentral.com Sep. 17, 1997 Vol. 5 - No. 182 NextLevel's High-End Digital Box To Offer Web-Surfing Flexibility (Cable World) Trying to anticipate demand for more complex services, NextLevel Systems Inc. engineers are developing a feature that would let high-end subscribers watch TV and surf the Internet at the same time while using a single digital set-top box. Carrying the early name of Watch 'N' Record, the capability will be incorporated into NLS's premium DCT 5000 set-top boxes for another $50. That would price the units about $100 more than the mainstream DCT 1000s costing in $400 to $450, according to David Robinson, VP-GM of NLS' digital network systems business unit. The base DCT 5000's functionality includes compatibility with Multimedia Cable Network Systems (MCNS) cable modem specifications, including the ability to deliver high-speed data at 27 mbps. "Talking through the feature requirements with the leading operators during the last few months, we found that many of them wanted the capability to not only hook up the set-top to the television display and utilize all the content that's available over the Internet, as well as entertainment television, but also hook up a personal computer with an Ethernet output," Robinson said. Then, NextLevel went a step further. "The concept of Watch 'N' Surf came when people said, 'I really like that PC output functionality and I don't want to limit my subscribers to either watching the television or surfing the Net with a personal computer,'" he said. As currently configured, the box would warn of user conflicts, Robinson said: "Knowing what I know, I might say, 'Yeah, the DCT 5000 can do the trick,' and I might not necessarily install a cable modem with my personal computer, or, if I do, by the time this comes to fruition, I'll probably have more than the two computers in my house, plus more than the four televisions I already have in my house. "It's that type of consumer who's the target for this product. It is not the average television watcher. The mainstream requirements, even including real-time interactivity for video-on-demand, are more than satisfied by a lower-cost mainstream product that is shipping today." Cowles/Simba Media Daily 9/17/97 Copyright 1997 Cowles Business Media. All rights reserved.

To: BillyG who wrote (26823)	12/17/1997 5:39:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

EU frowns on aid to chip firms............................................ news.com By Reuters December 17, 1997, 2:30 p.m. PT BRUSSELS--The European Commission, increasingly wary about subsidies to the semiconductor industry, today warned it may ban Austrian aid to Siemens AG. It won a similar fight with Italy involving SGS-Thomson as Italy dropped a planned 18 million ecu grant to the company, the Commission said earlier today. The ecu is the European Union's currency. The Commission's tough stance worries European manufacturers, which say rivals in the U.S. and in Asia are getting significant research and development aid. "I think the Commission should also look at help and subsidies being given in the United States and even more so in Taiwan, [South] Korea and Japan," Eckhard Runge, secretary general of the European Electronic Component Manufacturers Association (EECA), told Reuters. The Commission announced it had strong doubts about allowing the Austrian government to give 27 million ecus ($30.1 million) in aid to Siemens Baulemente mainly to upgrade a semiconductor production plant. Siemens Baulemente belongs to Siemens AG's semiconductors division. The Commission also said Italy had dropped a plan to grant 18 million ecus ($20 million) to SGS-Thomson Electronics after EU competition chief Karel Van Miert proposed to ban the aid. In both cases, Van Miert took the view that the projects were part of the companies' core activities and that they would have carried them out, with or without public support, to keep pace with competition. Public aid would therefore distort competition by disadvantaging other European semiconductor firms. "The 'incentive' effect of the proposed aid--an inducement for the company to carry out research which it would not otherwise have pursued--appears non-existent," the Commission said in a statement on the Siemens case. Van Miert's tough stance, which contrasts with an apparent inability to prevent much larger subsidies to rescue state-controlled firms, was criticized by EU Research Commissioner Edith Cresson in May, when the Commission discussed aid to SGS-Thomson. Cresson defended the firm, saying that the subsidies would merely provide a level playing field in competing with U.S. and Asian manufacturers. SGS-Thomson is a joint venture involving Italian state holding company IRI and France Telecom. In a move to speed up anti-dumping disputes involving Korean imports, meanwhile, EECA has signed an agreement with the Korea Semiconductor Industry Association with regard to the collection of data on production, costs, and prices of dynamic random access memory (DRAMS). Korean companies account for 35 percent of the European DRAM market, whereas European firms supply a meager two percent of Korean needs. Only European or Korean anti-dumping authorities will have access to such data, once an anti-dumping procedure is opened, the Commission said in a separate statement published in the EU's Official Journal.