SkyREPORT.COM News Headlines
News Update For 12/8/99
Thomson Readies New RCA Systems
Thomson Multimedia, a leading equipment manufacturer
for DirecTV, will announce today the release of two RCA receiver systems
specifically designed for local channel reception. The new models -
DS4440RE with a suggested retail price of $399 and DRD480RE with a suggested
retail price of $349 - include Wink Enhanced Broadcasting and a caller
ID display. The DS4440RE also comes with an 18-inch x 24-inch antenna
featuring a dual LNB and a multiswitch for reception of DirecTV programming
from satellites in multiple orbital slots. DirecTV has announced it
will offer local broadcast network channels via satellite to up to 50
million homes, or about half of the nation's television households.
They began rolling out that service late last month soon after President
Clinton signed the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act into law. David
Spomer, Thomson's vice president of DBS product management said, "Local
channel reception capability is an exciting complement to the new-generation
RCA DirecTV systems."
Another Record Month for DirecTV
DirecTV reported Tuesday that its high-power satellite TV service acquired 150,000 net new customers in November. Those subscriber additions represent a record for that month and a 36 percent increase over net customer acquisitions in November 1998. The company also added 77,000 customers who were transitioned from the medium-power PrimeStar By DirecTV service, bringing the total number of conversions to 381,000. There are still approximately 1.5 million customers subscribing to PrimeStar By DirecTV, the company said. Through the first 11 months of 1999, DirecTV has acquired 1,381,000 net new high-power customers, a 42 percent increase over this time last year. The company now has 7.8 million customers, including those subscribing to the medium-power service.
Hughes Stock Jumps On Rumors-Analyst Note
No new developments were reported Monday as a result of the General Motors board meeting that focused on Hughes Electronics, but the whirlwind of rumors involving the auto giant's satellite subsidiary and a bullish analyst report shot the GMH stock through the roof. Hughes closed up more than $5 to $94.75. GM closed up a quarter at $76. Before the market opened Monday, Banc of America Securities analyst Armand Musey raised the firm's 12-month price target on Hughes from $76 to $100. He didn't mention the going-ons at GM involving its Hughes stake. However, he said continued strong subscriber growth at DirecTV could make the stock a winner. "We believe that with the stellar growth prospects of DirecTV, in addition to Hughes' dominant presence in most other satellite businesses, upside still remains in the stock," Musey said. "Hughes is the pre-eminent satellite communications blue-chip company, and should be a core holding for any satellite investor. GMH wasn't the only satellite-related stock seeing big gains. Pegasus shares climbed $10 to $80. EchoStar closed up nearly $8 to $82.38.
Analysts Boost DISH-Lower Pegasus
EchoStar Communications continues to be the darling of Wall Street. Rob Kaimowitz with ING Barings Tuesday reiterated a strong buy rating for the DISH stock. Kaimowitz wrote that in April of this year, EchoStar was trading at $80, or $20 in today's post-split shares. "Today, DISH is trading at a split adjusted $332 ... and we continue to believe that healthy upside exists." He underscored the hearty rating because satellite television is a "cheaper, deeper, better product than cable," and that new developments at EchoStar such as the DISH 500 system and the local channel offering will be positive for the company and its stock. Kaimowitz raised the 12-month price target for DISH to $110. Meanwhile, Pegasus Communications, the largest distributor of DirecTV in territories operated by the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative, saw one of its ratings downgraded. William Kidd with C.E. Unterberg Tobin lowered his firm's PGTV opinion Tuesday from a buy to a neutral, even though Pegasus shares have already eclipsed his year-end 2000 target of $76 per share. The lower rating, he wrote, is due to the fact that Pegasus does not have clear rights to interactive television offerings such as those being developed by Wink and TiVo, and the company will not be impacted much by new the local-into-local network services since it primarily focuses on rural areas where that offering will not be available. Shares in EchoStar closed up 8.2 percent Tuesday at $89.88. Pegasus closed up 6.09 percent at $84.88.EU Questions Proposed Merger
The European Commission has launched an investigation into a proposed joint venture between DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (DASA) and Dutch-based Matra Marconi Space due to fears that the new company, Astrium, could dominate Europe's commercial satellite industry. Concerns about the merger were voiced by the European Space Agency and national ministries of defense. The Commission's probe, according to Reuters, will look into whether Astrium's position as a leading prime contractor for space systems and manufacturer of related equipment could overshadow other companies. Investigators are apparently not concerned that the venture would dominate the telecommunications satellite business. The commission now has four months to decide whether to impose conditions in return for blessing the proposed merger.COMP WATCH: Companies Target Asia
- SkyStream, Lucent Forge Marketing Deal - SkyStream Corporation, the broadcast Internet company, and Lucent Technologies will work together to target digital cable and satellite service providers around the world with their combined digital video networking solutions. The companies initially plan to target cable broadcasters in Asia.
- GI Touts Company Milestone - General Instrument has announced the shipment of its 1,000th digital headend to Charter Communications in Jackson, Tenn., a cable system serving approximately 24,000 subscribers. The company has also announced that it made a $5 million investment in Digital ADCO, a subsidiary of ACTV, in exchange for 49 percent of Digital ADCO common stock.
- Industry Group Changes Name - The Anti-Theft Cable Task Force, a group that promotes signal security, will become the Broadband and Internet Security Task Force effective Jan. 1, 2000. The organization also elected a new board of directors.
- Thomson Invests in Geocast - Consumer electronics manufacturer Thomson Multimedia has announced a major investment and development partnership with Geocast Network Systems. The purpose of the alliance will be to promote a terrestrial broadcast-based digital TV datacasting system and service.