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To: John Rieman who wrote (34773)	7/30/1998 9:54:00 AM
From: BillyG	Respond to of 50808

B Sky B -- Sky Television Unveils Plans for Digital Launch LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 30, 1998--Mark Booth, Chief Executive of British Sky Broadcasting Group plc (NYSE: BSY), the UK-based pay-television broadcasting group, today announced that Sky's Digital Satellite service will be launched to new customers on October 1st. This will ensure that Sky is the first company to launch digital television services and will benefit from the key Christmas selling season. Existing Sky customers will be offered the opportunity to upgrade from analogue to digital services at an earlier date. Sky also unveiled a series of deals and initiatives to enable it to derive maximum advantage from the digital age. These cover the key aspects of the Sky Digital proposition: the hardware, the programming and the packaging of channels. Hardware & Infrastructure Sky's digital transmission center is already in operation and is currently transmitting 140 digital channels. Today Sky announced that the first of the set-top box manufacturers, Pace, is now in production. The other manufacturers - Amstrad, Grundig and Matsushita - will follow shortly. Sky Digital systems - dish, set-top box and remote control - will retail for 199.99 pounds for new customers and 159.99 pounds for existing customers. There will be a low cost finance deal available for as little as 5.99 pounds per month. We anticipate that there will be at least 200,000 boxes with the retailers in readiness for the Christmas selling period. Sky has also reached agreement with seven consumer electronics manufacturers to develop television sets with integrated Sky set-top box technology; Toshiba, Panasonic, LG, Grundig, Amstrad, Sharp and Samsung. Together these manufacturers account for more than 50% of the TV retail market. Integrated sets are expected to be in production from the end of this year onwards. Retailers will be able to offer a wide choice of screen sizes and features at a range of prices. Sky can also announce that free installation will be offered on Sky Digital satellite systems. This professional installation will save customers up to 100 pounds. Our research has shown that by removing installation costs people are four times as likely to make a purchase. There will be a significant cost to Sky - dependent on the speed of take up in the first couple of years - but we believe that the long term financial impact of this strategy is to increase our profit and cash flows. This strategy will establish Sky Digital in the market ahead of the competition with the aim of securing a 50% share of the industry-estimated 12 million pay TV homes by 2003. Programming Programming is vital to the Sky Digital service - people watch programming not technology. Sky has therefore secured programming and channels from the best names in television. Last month we announced agreements with Flextech, Discovery and UKTV today we can disclose the exclusive elements of these deals. Sky can also announce that it has signed agreements with Viacom for Paramount Comedy, MTV, three MTV multiplexes, Nickelodeon, VH1 and M2. Sky has secured cable and satellite exclusivity from the following 18 channels: T General entertainment Music Documentary Kids UK Gold 2 MTV Discovery Nickelodeon Paramount Comedy 3x MTV Discovery Fox Kids Discovery Home & multiplexes multiplex Leisure M2 3x Discovery Showcase VH1 Animal Planet National Geographic T To these will be added a selection of cable and satellite exclusive channels from Flextech and UKTV including UK Gold 2. In addition, Sky now has all the movie multiplexing and Near Video On Demand ("NVOD") movie rights which it needs to offer an outstanding digital subscription movie service and Sky Box Office. All the movie multiplexing rights and some of the NVOD deals grant an exclusive window to Sky. This means that Sky Digital will be able to offer the most attractive, comprehensive packages available. Packaging Sky can also announce details of how the channels will be packaged. The recent ITC decision on unbundling enables us to offer highly competitive and more tailored smaller packages. We will be able to offer a range of basic tiers targeted at specific audiences such as a news and documentary package or a kids package. Full pricing details will be announced shortly, but we can announce today that we will be able to offer services for less than 10 pounds per month - significantly cheaper than in analogue. We believe that these prices will ensure that we will be offering the best value of any digital service. Mark Booth, Chief Executive said: "Sky will launch the best television service in the world on October 1st. We are leading the digital television revolution and will gain greatly from being the first to launch. "We are extremely well positioned to lead the digital television revolution. We are prepared to make the investment necessary for success to optimize our position. We are unveiling very attractive hardware options and have the best content including channels exclusively for satellite and cable. As the only digital broadcaster with 100% coverage of the UK, we will offer outstanding value for our customers. "I am confident that our decision to market aggressively, including the offer for free installation, will ensure that we can establish Sky Digital ahead of the competition and thus derive maximum long term benefit for our shareholders." British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is the leading provider of pay-television broadcasting services in the UK and Ireland, with over 6 million paying subscribers. Its operations include the operation and distribution of twelve wholly-owned television channels, as well as direct-to-home marketing of twenty-eight channels owned by third parties. BSkyB ADRs (each equal to six ordinary shares) trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BSY. BSkyB ordinary shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange, and can be accessed on Reuters under the symbol BSY.L, and on Quotron and Bloomberg under the symbol BSY. Additional information is available on BSkyB's home page: sky.co.uk. CONTACT: British Sky Broadcasting plc Tim Allan, 011 44-171-705-3200 or Taylor Rafferty Associates Brian Rafferty, 212/889-4350

To: John Rieman who wrote (34773)	7/30/1998 10:27:00 AM
From: BillyG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Japan's multimedia market......... nikkeibp.asiabiztech.com <<The Multimedia White Paper provides forecasts of the size of Japan's multimedia market. It says that the market will likely expand to 11,117.9 billion yen (US$78.2 billion) in 2000. DVDs will enjoy dramatic sales growth, while the personal computer market will likely reach a plateau. Sales of DVDs, which reached 5.2 billion yen (US$36.6 million) in 1997, are expected to register 92.1 billion yen (US$650 million) in 2000. >>