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To: Rajiv who wrote (59)	2/3/1999 10:38:00 PM
From: Musquaro	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 489

If you were only to take position in One of these stocks,what would it be? UIHIA now or wait for UPC Regards Musquaro

To: Rajiv who wrote (59)	2/3/1999 11:22:00 PM
From: Mad2	Respond to of 489

News from the socialist front Copyright 1999 Reed Elsevier Inc. Daily Variety February 3, 1999 Wednesday SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 18 LENGTH: 399 words HEADLINE: MUST-CARRY CRUX: Canal Plus wins Dutch, Belg rulings vs. monopolies BYLINE: MARLENE EDMUNDS BODY: AMSTERDAM --- The Canal Plus Group has won two breakthrough decisions in lawsuits against cable operators in Holland and Belgium. Both decisions require local cable operators to continue carrying Canal Plus channels. They respectively admonish cable operator A2000 in Holland and cablers Coditel, Wolu TV and Radio Public in Belgium for taking unfair advantage of a monopoly position by demanding excessive carriage rates for signal transmission. Driven off cable Excessive carriage rates in Holland have already driven CNN, MTV and several other popular content providers off cable serving customers in the greater Amsterdam area. Charges that Amsterdam cable operator A2000 is unfairly using its monopoly position are pending before antitrust authorities. In the Dutch decision, an Amsterdam district court ruled that A2000 was not permitted to stop broadcasting Canal Plus Netherlands while it awaited the results of that antitrust decision. In Belgium, a Brussels appeals court has ordered Coditel, Wolu TV and Radio Public to broadcast Canal Plus Belgium premium channels as well as its three digital multiplexed versions. The Brussels court also set carriage fees for Canal Plus and dismissed Radio Public's claim that its decoders, rather than those of Canal Plus, should be used for access to Canal Plus Belgium's channels. A2000 and Radio Public are both owned by United Pan-Europe Communications (UPC), an Amsterdam-based subsidiary of United International Holdings (UIH). Battling monopolies The decisions are part of a growing battle in both territories against alleged cable monopolies. CNN's withdrawal from Amsterdam cable --- after it failed to reach an agreement on carriage rates with A2000 --- triggered an outcry from cable subscribers in this city, which has a large population of American residents. It went off the air in Amsterdam shortly before independent counsel Ken Starr's report on President Clinton was due to be released. UPC, which launches onto the Amsterdam and NASDAQ stock exchanges this month, is the largest private cable multiservice operator in Europe, with some 3.4 million subscribers in 11 territories. Last month it unrolled ambitious plans to distribute and package a raft of new theme channels across Europe, some of them targeted to the Benelux countries and expected to give Canal Plus a run for its money in those territories. LANGUAGE: ENGLISH LOAD-DATE: February 3, 1999