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Technology Stocks : Primestar/TCI Satellite (TSATA) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JDCFA who wrote (120)	10/22/1998 12:41:00 PM
From: EPS	Respond to of 442

October 22, 1998: S&P Lowers PrimeStar Credit Ratings New York -- Standard & Poor's Corp. announced Wednesday that it has lowered its corporate-credit and bank-loan ratings for PrimeStar Inc. to "single B," and its subordinated-debt rating to "triple-C-plus." PrimeStar's ratings were placed on CreditWatch with negative implications. In a press release, S&P said the downgrade reflects the termination of PrimeStar's agreement to buy high-power direct-broadcast satellite assets from News Corp.'s American Sky Broadcasting Inc. S&P raised concerns over PrimeStar's ability to compete with a medium-power service in a high-power DBS market -- especially given the discounted, and even free, hardware available from its competition. PrimeStar currently spends between $40 million and $50 million per month in an effort to increase subscriber levels, S&P said. "Without additional capital, Standard & Poor's believes that the company will likely have a liquidity problem as early as the first quarter of 1999," the statement said. Further downgrades to PrimeStar's credit rating are possible if its subscriber base decreases, S&P warned. - 10/21/98