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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JPM who wrote (29626)	2/18/1998 12:22:00 PM
From: CPAMarty	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Perhaps ol' CUBE should sell its VCD business to a company that will not have the currency exposure and use the sales proceeds for a stock buy back program and/or to finance its newer businesses, i.e. dvd, DVx, etc

To: JPM who wrote (29626)	2/18/1998 12:22:00 PM
From: Don Dorsey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

PRIMESTAR(R) Selects General Instrument to Manufacture Next Generation Receivers for High-Power Service PR Newswire - February 18, 1998 12:07 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Digital and Analog Compatible Receivers Will Serve Retail and Wholesale Customers BALA CYNWYD, Pa., Feb. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- PRIMESTAR, the nation's second largest provider of satellite television entertainment, announced today that is has selected General Instrument Corporation to manufacture integrated receiver decoders (IRD) for its high-power retail and wholesale services to be launched this year. The contract is valued in excess of $180 million. PRIMESTAR will name a brand-name consumer electronics company as a second source later this year. "General Instrument has proven to us that it delivers high-quality products," said Joel Ginsparg, senior vice president of technology and operations at PRIMESTAR. "We chose General Instrument because we believe their conditional access technology is superior to all others." "We are delighted that PRIMESTAR has awarded us this contract," said Thomas J. Lynch, vice president and general manager of General Instrument's San Diego-based Satellite Data Network Systems. "We appreciate their vote of confidence in our ability to meet their needs and customer demand in the years ahead." The receiver, with MPEG-2 video compression, Dolby Digital sound and proprietary DigiCipher(R) II conditional access technology, will offer PRIMESTAR's most popular features such as the View and Next buttons, parental lockout controls, and five program timers. New, state-of-the-art features include a personal message mailbox and an interactive program guide which allows viewers to watch a program while perusing the guide, configure the guide by programming type and favorite channels, and set timers without going to a separate menu. Retail customers for PRIMESTAR's 120-channel service delivered from 119 degrees west longitude will be the first to receive this IRD. The service, to be launched in the second quarter of 1998, will offer a competitively priced entertainment product with the purchase of equipment, including an 18-inch dish. With an analog tuner built into the IRD, this receiver is also designed for PRIMESTAR's wholesale service, also to launch in the second quarter of 1998. This service will offer all multichannel video providers the opportunity to upgrade subscribers to digital programming seamlessly and cost-effectively. The General Instrument receiver is also built to accommodate future data and interactive services and be compatible with the high-power service that PRIMESTAR intends to launch after receiving government approval for the transition of the orbital slot at 110 degrees west from ASKYB/MCI to PRIMESTAR. General Instrument Corporation (NYSE: GIC) is the world leader in analog and digital systems that provide video, audio and high-speed Internet/data services over cable and satellite television networks. This past December, GI announced that major cable operators expect to purchase at least 15 million of GI's advanced digital set-top devices over the next 3-5 years at an estimated value of $4.5 billion. Last month, GI and Sony announced that they plan to form a strategic alliance to jointly develop technologies for digital cable TV devices and high definition television products. GI's cable and satellite TV operations have approximately 7,000 employees and annual sales of approximately $1.8 billion. Launched in 1994 as America's first digital TV entertainment service, PRIMESTAR recently received the highest ranking among satellite and cable subscribers in the J.D. Power and Associates 1997 Cable/Satellite Customer Satisfaction Study(SM). This ranks PRIMESTAR at the top in overall customer satisfaction, above all cable and satellite providers nationwide. PRIMESTAR is the direct broadcast satellite (DBS) provider that doesn't require the purchase of equipment and the only one with a current service of 160 channels lined up by programming category. For one monthly fee that starts at about $1 a day, PRIMESTAR's comprehensive medium-power TV entertainment service offers use of all equipment, state-of-the-art digital picture and sound, ongoing maintenance and service, and a monthly programming guide. Headquartered in suburban Philadelphia, PRIMESTAR is available throughout the continental United States and is offered direct to consumers through 1-800-PRIMESTAR. PRIMESTAR is also available from RadioShack(SM) stores, Nobody beats the WIZ(R) and independent retailers nationwide. All PRIMESTAR press releases within the past year can be obtained on the World Wide Web at prnewswire.com (in the Company News On-Call area) or by fax by calling 800-758-5804 and requesting PRIMESTAR Partners list No. 104652. PRIMESTAR is a registered service mark of PRIMESTAR Partners, LP. DigiCipher is a registered trademark of General Instrument Corp. RadioShack is a service mark of Tandy Corporation. SOURCE PRIMESTAR Partners /CONTACT: Katie Stephan, 610-617-5446, or Kimberly Maki, 610-617-5662, both of PRIMESTAR Partners, or Greg LaBrache, 619-404-3967, or Dick Badler, 773-695-1030, both of General Instrument/ /Company News On-Call: prnewswire.com or fax, 800-758-5804, ext. 104652/ (GIC)