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

To: Bob Strickland who wrote (33079)	5/8/1998 7:45:00 PM
From: Jacques Chitte	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Nobody touched the issue of the stock price. I think they would have had to issue complimentary blue rubber exam gloves were that the case. There were maybe fifty people. Most of them were behind me (I'm sorta myopic) and all were better dressed. The voting end of the meeting was like last year - about 90% of shares voting aye to everything. Tone? "Guardedly neutral" is my read. No more rah-rah about being the Gorillas of VCD - but a commitment to hang onto market share since VCD is projected to stay #1 Cash Cow for the semi division. AB expressed "disappointment" with DVD on the one hand. On the other hand he wanted Cube to be in position for when the format inevitably takes off, esp. as DVD-Ram. In the meantime, it seems that the company is deliberately not encouraging the analysts. There was some spirited Q&A. The usual schtuff like "who's the competition, and what are they up to?" One question made me scratch my head. "There's a lot of cash on the balance sheet (180 mil!). Do you have any plans to put it to work?" This'n caught AB off guard just a little. Quick ad-lib about "keeping dry powder" in case another (!!!!!) tough patch was ahead, and keeping cash handy for whatever purchase opp turns up. Subjective read: mgmt is a little defensive after the big VCD embarrassment followed by our own little DVD El Nino. And you never know - I hear Rio's quite nice this time of year... ;-) A personal ritual was observed. I got me a big chewy chocolate chip cookie from the refreshment table. My annual Cube dividend. I did not see any shortcake.

To: Bob Strickland who wrote (33079)	5/8/1998 7:56:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

BDB...................................... ijumpstart.com BIB AND BDB FIGHT IT OUT A legal spat broke out last week when BSkyB issued a writ against British Digital Broadcasting (BDB) over the design of BDB's set-top box. BSkyB is incensed by BDB's plan to use the Canal Plus conditional access system called Mediaguard, as opposed to the one developed by its own subsidiary NDS Limited. BSkyB had been threatening legal action over the issue for some time. Nigel Walmsley of BDB issued the following statement last week: "BSkyB claims that our set-top boxes will not be interoperable with theirs. This claim is unfounded. All that is required is for BSkyB to agree to co-operate to finalise the technical arrangements...We are ready and waiting. BSkyB should compete in the marketplace, not in the courts." BIB (British Interactive Broadcasting) - a consortium including BSkyB, BT, Midland Bank and Matsushita - has confirmed that a "soft" digital satellite launch will take place in June, with a bigger launch to follow over the summer. The initial launch will be for around 200 Pay-TV channels, with some interactive services to follow - according to a calendar that is regularly being changed. The most recent dates include some selective services by November this year that will act as 'barkers' for the first stage official launch in April 1999. These services include interactive ads, simple games and information services. The full interactive Monty will only take place in March 2000 and will include extended retail, complex travel, on-line betting/gaming, downloadable games and education services. Meanwhile, BDB (British Digital Broadcasting) is planning to go ahead with its own digital terrestrial service in the autumn. BDB is a partnership between Carlton and Granada (each owns 50 per cent). It will launch 15 channels from Carlton, Granada, BBC/Flextech and BSkyB. Twelve of these channels will be part of the basic subscription. Three will be premium channels. The BDB set-top box design has been agreed by all the UK terrestrial broadcasters, including BBC, ITV and Channel 4. BDB has placed orders for set-top boxes with Grundig, Pace, Philips, Nokia, Sony and Toshiba. The consortium has contracted to use SECA's Mediaguard as its conditional access system. (SECA is a partnership between Canal Plus and Bertelsmann, a conditional access system is the electronic turnstile' which allows subscribers to watch pay-TV services).