BRIEFS

Cable World,  June 23, 2003  

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

ANOTHER STORMY WEEK FOR GEMSTAR

It had been almost too quiet at Gemstar-TV Guide International. Legal issues erupted again last week as a U.S. federal judge dismissed a Gemstar patent claim against EchoStar Communications and the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil suit against Gemstar founder and former CEO, Henry Yuen, and the company's former CFO Elsie Leung. EchoStar said it is now free to pursue the antitrust suit it initially filed against Gemstar in 2000; Gemstar, for its part, said it would review its options in the matter, which include refiling, moving for reconsideration or an outright appeal. The SEC suit claims Yuen and Leung schemed to inflate Gemstar's licensing and advertising revenue by $223 million between March 2000 and September 2002. The suit seeks disgorgement of some $97 million earned by Yuen in salary, bonuses and stock sales; it also seeks to freeze $37 million Gemstar had previously agreed to pay Yuen and Leung when they left the company. Gemstar said it continues to cooperate with the SEC.

CHARTER GETS OK TO REVISE STRUCTURE

Charter Communications received approval from its lenders to revise its complex corporate structure as a means to help shore up its balance sheet. Charter will form a new holding company that will serve as a borrowing entity should the company go ahead with a plan to borrow $300 million from its founder, Paul Allen.

VOD DECODED WITH A BUTTON IN L.A.

Starting next week, Time Warner Cable's Los Angeles division will roll out a simplified remote control to every new or upgraded subscriber to help educate them about video-on-demand, the division's spokesman says. The center of the remote - made by Universal Electronics - features a large button that, when pushed, takes the viewer to a home page similar to the one used by TiVo. The home page includes instructions on how to use the remote and lists available movies and programs. The remote is expected to reduce the system's customer service calls; 2.5% of all calls are about how to use the remote, the spokesman says. The division also plans to launch digital video recorders next week.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Access Intelligence, LLC
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning