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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DiViT who wrote (39443)	3/25/1999 3:36:00 PM
From: J Fieb	Respond to of 50808

For those that want to review the news around MediaOne Comcast.... dailynews.yahoo.com Comcast, MediaOne Announce Merger By ERIC R. QUINONES AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) - Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq:CMCSA - news) is buying MediaOne Group Inc. for $48.65 billion in stock, combining the nation's third- and fourth-largest cable television providers in the industry's richest merger ever. The new Comcast will serve 11 million cable customers under the deal announced today, with a potential market of 18 million homes. Comcast would rank behind only Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX - news) and AT&T Corp. (NYSE:T - news), which recently acquired Tele-Communications Inc. (Nasdaq:TCOMP - news) MediaOne stock jumped 12 percent on news of the deal, but Comcast shares dropped 7 percent. Cable companies are hoping demand will increase for high-speed Internet access and phone services over cable lines, which have much greater capacity than phone lines. Comcast hopes the deal will allow it to offer expanded all-in-one packages of TV, Internet and phone services. MediaOne is a spinoff of the phone company U S West Inc., which in late 1997 gave up on the idea that cable and phone providers could complement each other and split its cable business into a separate company. The value of today's deal eclipses AT&T's $44 billion purchase of TCI, which was completed two weeks ago. In addition to cable systems, Philadelphia-based Comcast's interests include a 57 percent stake in the home-shopping cable network QVC Inc.; the National Hockey League's Philadelphia Flyers; the National Basketball Association's Philadelphia 76ers; and stakes in the E! and Golf Channel cable networks. MediaOne, based in Englewood, Colo., and also has interests in wireless communications businesses outside the United States serving more than 3 million customers. The combined companies generated more than $8 billion in revenue last year and will have cable systems throughout the East, as well as in the Midwest and West.. Under the agreement, MediaOne shareholders will receive 1.1 shares of Comcast stock for each of MediaOne's shares. In morning trading, MediaOne stock shot up $7.25 to $68 per share on the New York Stock Exchange, while Comcast shares dropped $5 to $67.871/2 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The agreement has been approved by the boards of both companies but is subject to the approval of Comcast and MediaOne shareholders, and of federal and local regulatory agencies. The companies said they expect the deal to be closed by the end of the year. Ralph J. Roberts, the chairman of Comcast, and his son Brian L. Roberts, the chief executive and president, will retain their posts. MediaOne's president, CEO and chairman, Charles M. Lillis, will become vice chairman of MediaOne and join its board of directors, along with three additional MediaOne designees. The agreement would allow MediaOne to accept a better offer, but would have to pay Comcast $1.5 billion for breaking the deal. - The nation's largest cable system operators, assuming the completion of Comcast Corp.'s acquisition of MediaOne Group Inc. and other pending transactions: -Time Warner Inc., 12.6 million -AT&T Corp., 12.5 million -Comcast Corp., 11 million -Adelphia Communications Corp. (Nasdaq:ADLAC - news), 4.7 million -Cox Communications Inc. (NYSE:COX - news), 3.8 million This has to be better than continued ownership by US WEST. There will be competition for eyeballs between TCI-ATT, Comcast, Perhaps this is where the commitment to advanced features that CUBE has talked about comes in...... My favorite excerpts from the pr are...... wo-way interactivity over HFC (Hybrid Fiber/Coax) networks is critical for the MediaOne deployment," said Jos Swillens, General Manager of Philips Digital Receivers. "With C-Cube's technology inside the box, we are able to meet the aggressive schedule and feature requirements of this landmark initiative. We are delighted that MediaOne has chosen Philips and our group partner, to deliver the first open system to the U.S. cable market. ....... With the MediaOne announcement, the ground rules in the U.S. cable market have changed," said David Baillie, vice president and general manager of C-Cube's Consumer Network Products Business Unit. "Cable providers are actively looking to open standards-based solutions, which C-Cube is pleased to be able to provide them." Maybe this win will create some traffic and interest at the upcoming NAB less than a month away now -

To: DiViT who wrote (39443)	3/25/1999 5:38:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

C-Cube was selling the 2 chip AViA sets for just over $20 last year. The new AViA combines those 2 chips(Decode and Transport) plus a graphics chip. It should be priced well above $20. The microSparc CPU is worth about $25, if the customer takes that as well. Plus a couple of buck for royalities on the design. The TV/Com part is worth $10-$15 today, for the front end. I don't think they are selling TV/Com parts yet. They will most likely incorporate it into the next AViA. ZiVA is selling just below $15 for large volume customers. The complete set top solution is worth $50 or more. That's better than a ZiVA win.