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To: WISDOM MILES who wrote (39286)	3/15/1999 10:07:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Deutsche Telekom.................................... betaresearch.de Hanover/Bonn, 26 August, 1998 DEUTSCHE TELEKOM PUSHES AHEAD WITH ITS CAMPAIGN TO OPEN UP THE DIGITAL TV MARKET Deutsche Telekom presents digital foreign-language package - Seven additional programs - Bigger range of set-top boxes expected by early 1999 Deutsche Telekom for the first time shows the first digital foreign-language programs for the cable TV network in time for this year's CeBIT HOME exhibition. The range of digital programs initially includes two Turkish providers (ATV2 and Kanal D), one Polish (TV Polonia), one Portuguese (RTPi), one Greek (ERT Sat), one Indian (ZEE TV) and one Chinese (CNE) provider. More free and pay-TV programs from countries like Russia, Spain, Italy, Serbia and Croatia will follow. The programs will be fed into the network as soon as possible in all federal states on channel S27. The nationally uniform foreign-language program "Andere Länder" ("Other Countries") is transmitted via the cable network in coded form. To receive the foreign-language programs, people need a decoder and a smartcard, which gives access on a one-off basis. No subscription fee is charged, except for ZEE-TV. Both the smartcard and the decoder can be purchased during the introductory phase from Deutsche Telekom's service and information center by calling the free phone number 0800 33 00329. The staff at this call center can provide full information about the "Andere Länder" digital foreign-language package. In future, the staff will also be able to answer queries in the callers' own languages. Digitization in the cable network will lead to a multiplication (by a factor of 6-8 per channel) of the possible number of programs available, as well as a considerable improvement in picture quality and a wide range of new possibilities in user menu guidance; there could even be electronic pro-gram magazines and new forms of financing. Market conditions will im-prove for all types of program, be they public-law programs, advertising-financed, pay-per-channel, pay-per-view, closed user groups, regional/ local programs or any mixture of the above. About a year ago, Deutsche Telekom decided to set up a technical cable platform in Germany for the introduction of digital television, and to assume the role of neutral network operator in the future digital TV market. In order to guarantee an open market, Deutsche Telekom has selected for its cable network the d-box™ technology made by BetaResearch. This decision was based on the market maturity of the system, the certainty that it will not become obsolete in the foreseeable future, and the willingness on the part of the supplier to grant a license to any potential manufacturer of set-top boxes. This decision ensures that Germany will have a uniform decoder techno-logy that can be further developed into a worldwide DVB standard. At the same time, it will prevent several mutually incompatible set-top box tech-nologies from springing up and competing for the cable market. Deutsche Telekom's digital platform will be open to all program suppliers without discrimination. Deutsche Telekom will resolutely continue its campaign to introduce digital television into the cable network, and carry on using and developing the d-box™ technology in the cable field that is already in use today. We will also do our utmost to ensure that set-top boxes based on d-box™ technology are open to more manufacturers, a process that has already begun. The development of an open "application-programming interface" (API), with which each program supplier can develop its own electronic program guide (EPG), will be completed - on schedule - by 31December 1998. Deutsche Telekom launched another initiative aimed at opening up the digital TV market in July by staging a dialog among manufacturers. The exchange of information on the "technical platform for digital television" is aimed at opening up the terminal equipment market as soon as possible. BetaResearch/Kirch Group gave an assurance to all terminal equipment manufacturers that they would be able to receive a license to produce a set-top box of their own at short notice. A broader range and choice of set-top boxes based on d-box™ technology is expected by the beginning of 1999.