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To: Jill Collins who wrote (348)	3/11/1999 9:30:00 AM
From: .com	Respond to of 489

Thursday March 11, 9:03 am Eastern Time Goldman Adds United International to Recommended List,Sets $58 Target

To: Jill Collins who wrote (348)	3/15/1999 7:33:00 PM
From: Tech97	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 489

Hopefully this will spark another rally. Tuesday, March 16, 1999 Austar float could be worth $500m By KEVIN MORRISON Satellite pay television operator Austar will know at the end of the month whether plans for a partial float get the go-ahead from its US owner, UIH International Holdings. Fund managers have estimated that Austar would be worth about $800 million, and would raise up to $500 million from a float. "We will be a top 100 company," said Austar managing director, Mr John Porter. The company would use the funds to retire debt and help fund its expansion into the delivery via satellite of data and electronic commerce services. Mr Porter said UIH would maintain control but the float could be targeted at both institutional and retail investors. "We may look at some loyalty program for our subscribers. I can think of no better way of sharing our success with our customers than by giving them a chance to become shareholders," he said. Austar has more than 300,000 subscribers from its pay TV services, which carries both Foxtel and Optus Vision programming. Austar beams its programs to regional Australia, where its market catchment is about 2 million homes or one third of the country's 6.2 million homes. Mr Porter said he expected Austar to have about 400,000 subscribers by the end of the year and add another 100,000 customers each year for the next three years. "We expect market penetration to eventually reach about 38-39 per cent," he said. Austar does not compete head to head with Foxtel, which launched its satellite service earlier this month, or Optus, which has yet to launch a satellite service. Foxtel and Optus have targetted the main cities as their markets. Australian investors have not had a good experience with satellite pay TV operators. Australis Media collapsed last year after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission blocked its merger with Foxtel. But both Mr Porter and Austar's executive director marketing and programming, Mr Bruce Mann, were confident that investors' attitude to the pay-TV industry had improved since the demise of Australis, which would improve the float prospectus. "I don't think investors will be comparing us with Australis, the market has changed since then and we are a different business," Mr Mann said. He added Australis was in direct competition to Foxtel and Optus, and had high programming costs.