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To: Sean White who wrote (8826)	1/6/1998 12:26:00 AM
From: Sean White	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 25814

TCI - Next Level set top box press release: Wednesday December 17, 2:11 pm Eastern Time Company Press Release SOURCE: Tele-Communications, Inc. TCI Group Confirms Transaction with GI/NextLevel To Purchase OpenCable(TM) Advanced Digital Set-Top Devices GI/NextLevel To Issue Warrants and Equity to TCI Units as Part of Set-Top Device Commitment, and Will Acquire HITS' Digital Authorization Business from TCI's NDTC ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Dec. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- TCI's Headend in the Sky (''HITS'') organization, on behalf of its affiliates, including TCI's domestic cable operations, confirmed today that it has entered into a long-term agreement with General Instrument Corporation (''GI/NextLevel'') to purchase advanced digital set-top devices. These devices incorporate the OpenCable(TM) architecture set forth and adopted by CableLabs, the cable television industry's research and development consortium, in November 1997. This purchase order, consistent with announced agreements with other industry leaders, provides for the purchase of an anticipated 6.5 million to 11.9 million devices for TCI and certain other HITS affiliates over the next three to five years. In connection with these commitments, GI/NextLevel is granting warrants proportional to the number of devices ordered by each organization, which would provide HITS affiliates an approximate 16 percent equity interest in GI/NextLevel. Additionally, GI announced an agreement to acquire HITS' digital authorization business from TCI's National Digital Television Center (NDTC) in exchange for a ten percent (10%) equity interest in GI. GI will, in turn, offer authorization services to cable operators for the purpose of managing the cable operator interface portion of HITS. These commitments are subject to the signing of definitive agreements and all appropriate regulatory approvals. Dr. John C. Malone, Chairman of TCI, said, ''Today marks an important milestone in the process of offering our customers the full benefits of our broadband cable network. Due to the scale economics that this OpenCable effort provides, we are able to develop advanced digital set-top devices with features and price advantages never before thought possible. These scale advantages allow us to contemplate far more extensive distribution of these technologies to our customers in an accelerated time frame and with lower costs, as well as encourage widespread industry participation in further development. Combined with GI's commitment to affiliate itself with a major consumer electronics partner , we can also be assured of access to cost- reducing technology and of a smooth evolution of this technology to consumer electronic devices and retail distribution.'' Malone continued, ''The power of this new technology will be far greater than what we thought we could achieve in this time frame, including high-speed Internet access, advanced digital entertainment features such as digital video and audio, and a broad range of new services including network games, impulse transaction capabilities, data and e-mail and the future promise of Internet voice and video applications. The most powerful aspect of OpenCable is the ability to involve multiple hardware, software and service vendors in the evolution of this platform. Our arrangement with GI provides us the opportunity to select specific hardware, software and service vendors, taking advantage of the well-known interest of technology and computer industry participants. As we continue our discussions and selection process, we can anticipate a series of announcements in the upcoming months as those specific relationships are established.'' ''As digital cable becomes widely deployed, our technology investments will enable the cable industry to derive new revenues from our cost-effective platforms,'' said Edward D. Breen, President and CEO of GI/NextLevel. ''We are working to establish technology and consumer electronics partners to expand the range of applications supported by these platforms.'' Tele-Communications, Inc. is traded through the TCI Group, the TCI Ventures Group and the Liberty Media Group common stocks. The Series A and Series B TCI Group common stocks are traded on the National Market tier of the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbols of TCOMA and TCOMB, respectively. The Series A and Series B TCI Ventures Group common stocks are traded on the National Market tier of the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbols of TCIVA and TCIVB, respectively. SOURCE: Tele-Communications, Inc.