- - - MediaOne Shareholders OK AT&T Deal - - -

As expected, MediaOne shareholders approved the sale of their cable company to AT&T Broadband and Internet Services under a $53 billion deal.

The shareholder blessing brought AT&T closer to acquiring access to an additional 5 million households. The merger, which should close early in the spring, will elevate AT&T to around 16 million subscribers. The deal still must pass reviews from the Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department.

MediaOne, spun off by US West in June 1998, is expected to become a key ingredient in AT&T's effort to compete with Baby Bells in the quickly-developing broadband market. In addition to cable TV, AT&T wants to use its network to deliver local telephone and high-speed Internet services to homes and businesses.

- - - Liberty Gets Ascent Satellite Assets - - -

Liberty Media Group, the programming arm of cable and broadband giant AT&T, announced Thursday that it will acquire entertainment/media company Ascent Entertainment in a stock swap valued at about $513.6 million.

Under the agreement, Liberty Media will convert each Ascent share into 0.4626 of a share of its Class A common stock.

Ascent provides pay-per-view and information services through On Command Corporation. The company's products are big among hotel chains. In addition, Ascent provides satellite services for the NBC television network, helping to distribute its national television feed to local affiliates.

Ascent was spun off by Comsat, the satellite services company being acquired by Lockheed Martin, in 1997.

Liberty's acquisition won't include Ascent's two sports franchises - the Colorado Avalanche hockey team and Denver Nuggets basketball squad - or the Pepsi Center arena in Denver. In late July, Ascent agreed to sell those assets to Donald L. Sturm and the Sturm Group for about $461 million.

- - - American Mobile Losses Better Than Expected - - -

American Mobile Satellite Thursday reported a year-to-date annualized growth rate over 32 percent as part of its third quarter financial results.

The company said total revenues for the quarter, including equipment sales, increased 5 percent to $23 million from $21.8 million for the same period last year. Net service revenues for the quarter were $17.3 million compared with $17.7 million in third quarter 1998.

American Mobile reported a third quarter consolidated EBITDA loss of $19 million and a consolidated net loss of $66 million, or $1.45 per share. The company said EBITDA and net loss were impacted by losses from its subsidiary XM Satellite Radio, which American Mobile was required to consolidate as a result of XM transactions this summer.

The company also said it booked an extraordinary loss in connection with the write-off of financing costs associated with debt that was repaid following a supplemental equity offering in July.

These results, however, were slightly better than Wall Street expected. Analyst Tim O'Neil with Soundview Technology Group said, "We are still very supportive of this story and reiterate our Strong Buy."

American Mobile Satellite owns and operates an integrated terrestrial/satellite network and provides a wide range of mobile communication services, including digital voice dispatch, data communications, dual-mode mobile messaging, position reporting and satellite telephone service in the continental United States.

- - - GI Cable Sales Continue To Grow - - -

Cable-related sales for General Instrument continued to grow during the third quarter.

During the three-month period, General Instrument said it shipped approximately 800,000 interactive digital set-top terminals, an increase of more than 35 percent relative to the 580,000 units shipped during the third quarter of 1998.

GI also shipped approximately 60,000 SURFboard cable modems, doubling the number of modems shipped during the second quarter of 1999. "Customer acceptance of GI's SURFboard modem continues to grow, and General Instrument is now supplying SURFboard modems to six of the seven largest cable operators in the U.S.," said GI Chairman Ed Breen.

GI's net income for the quarter, before a one-time charge, grew 24 percent to $48.9 million, compared to net income of $39.4 million reported in the prior year. Revenues grew to $544 million.

- - - MTV-Showtime Help Viacom - - -

Viacom reported Thursday that net income for the third quarter declined to $96.7 million, compared with $123.4 million reported during last year's third quarter.

Revenues at the media giant, which plans to buy CBS, were up to $3.33 billion for the three-month period, compared to $3.28 billion reported during the third quarter last year.

Overall results were helped by a healthy 15 percent jump in revenues at its cable networks, which include MTV, Nickelodeon and premium program provider Showtime. Revenues at Viacom's entertainment division, which includes the Paramount movie studio and TV production operations, fell 11 percent from last year. In 1998, the division got a huge boost from home video sales of "Titanic."

Meanwhile, Viacom's Blockbuster business is reportedly thinking about the home-entertainment e-market. According to The Wall Street Journal, the video rental giant may begin online video rentals next year and is considering investments in rival home-entertainment technologies.

- - - PROGRAMMING: - - -

• Big Weekend for Showtime -
  Both EchoStar's DISH Network and DirecTV will offer a free 24-hour preview of all eight Showtime channels beginning Saturday, Oct. 23. The offer includes the championship heavyweight boxing match between Mike Tyson and Orlin Norris that airs on Showtime at 11 p.m. Eastern Time. The fight, which takes place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, is the first live airing of a Tyson fight on Showtime. The network also will present a pay-per-view webcast of the fight on SHO.com. The Showtime preview includes three premium entertainment channels, along with Showtime Extreme, The Movie Channel, FLIX and the Sundance Channel.

• DISH Offers Live Mexican National Soccer -
  On Wed., Oct. 27, EchoStar's DISH Network will offer an exclusive pay-per-view showing of The Mexican National Soccer team's game against Ecuador. The game will be broadcast on channel 455 with a 30-minute preshow. DISH Subscribers can take advantage of this offer for $19.95. The game begins at 9 p.m. Eastern Time.

• DMX Gets New Name, Look -
  The digital music company DMX has announced a new corporate identity under the banner of DMX Music. DMX Music launches Nov. 16 with a new digital cable line-up and sales campaign.

• Entertainment Industry Gets Behind VH1 -
  VH1 will feature "The Concert of the Century for VH1 Save The Music," tomorrow at 4 p.m. Eastern Time. Entertainers scheduled to participate in the event include Bono, Garth Brooks, Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, Gloria Estefan, Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Lenny Kravitz and more. VH1 Save the Music is a national non-profit organization that works to restore music education programs in public schools.

• Network, Web Site Promote Cancer Awareness -
  On Sunday, Oct. 24, Discovery Health Channel and discoveryhealth.com will devote their programming line-ups to a series of specials about cancer awareness and prevention. Scheduled to coincide with Breast Cancer Awareness month, Discovery Health Channel will premiere three one-hour documentaries from 8-11 p.m. Eastern Time and discoveryhealth.com will simultaneously debut a series on cancer prevention.

• Inquizitor Returns to Game Show Network -
  The Game Show Network's program "Inquizition" returns for a second season on Monday, Oct. 25. The show has been described as a "bare-bones, rapid-fire, interactive quiz show, minus the bells, whistles and grinning host." It begins at 7 p.m. EDT.

• New Technology For Online Calendar -
  The Daily Drill, a free online calendar with detailed local TV, cable, satellite listings and other entertainment updates, has announced the availability of its service in version 3.0. To become a member, go to www.dailydrill.com.