Defunct American media company
An integrated circuit with Gemstar technology
Gemstar?TV Guide International, Inc.
was a
media company
that licensed
interactive program guide
technology to
multichannel video programming distributors
such as
cable
and
satellite television
providers, and consumer electronics manufacturers;
video recorder scheduling codes
under brands such as VCR Plus; as well as serving as publishers of
TV Guide
magazine as well as operators of tvguide.com, owners of
TV Guide Network
and
TVG Network
, and provided various related services. On May 2, 2008, Gemstar?TV Guide International, Inc. became a wholly owned subsidiary of
Macrovision Solutions Corporation
, which later changed its name to Rovi Corporation on July 16, 2009.
History
[
edit
]
As United Video
[
edit
]
In 1978, United Video Satellite Group, Inc. was founded in
Tulsa, OK
. United Video itself dated back to 1965, founded by Gene Schneider, and was originally a cable company in the Tulsa area, originally under the names of GenCo and then LVO Cable (during a period when they were owned by LVO Corporation, an oil company). The name United Video came from an acquisition in 1970: a small, microwave-based TV relay operation serving the
Illinois
towns of
Ottawa
,
Streator
and
Pontiac
with TV signals from
Chicago
. The microwave business expanded to serve other cable companies and regions, including Iowa, Louisiana, and Oklahoma itself, carrying distant stations to rural communities.
Thanks to their experience in distributing Chicago's
WGN-TV
via microwave, they were chosen to distribute WGN's signal nationwide via satellite uplink (after a period where UV competed with several other firms, including another Tulsa-based uplink firm,
Southern Satellite Systems
). They began uplinking the signal from a facility in
Monee, Illinois
, to the
Satcom-3
satellite on November 9, 1978.
[2]
Soon, several other stations began to be uplinked for national distribution by UVSG, including WGN's then-sister station
WPIX
in New York,
KTVT
in Dallas, and
KPLR
in St. Louis. (With the rise of satellite, this meant that microwave transmission of distant stations was now outmoded, with UVSG selling their microwave systems by 1980.)
A side venture was the
Satellite Music Network
, formed in 1981; the concept came about when UV employee Al Stem pointed out that the satellite bandwidth used for their superstation uplinks still left considerable amounts of bandwidth open for other usage. In less than three years, the service had more than 300 affiliates. SMN was sold to
Capital Cities/ABC Inc.
for a stock deal worth approximately $55 million on January 10, 1989;
[3]
Capital Cities/ABC had purchased a minority stake in the company in the days prior.
[4]
By the time of the purchase, SMN boasted over 1,050 affiliates for nine distinct formats throughout the United States.
[3]
The deal closed at the end of July, with SMN's operations folded into the original
ABC Radio Networks
,
[5]
and through subsequent mergers and divestitures is now a part of the current
Westwood One
under
Cumulus Media
.
[6]
[7]
The sale of SMN also ultimately led to the development of
SpaceCom
, a separate company which handled satellite data transmission, including data for
pagers
.
Another side venture formed from the idea of carrying something over their main signal was the
Electronic Program Guide
, also created in 1981. A simplistic setup, UVSG sent raw program listings data for national cable networks, as well as for regional and local
broadcast
stations
, disseminated from a central computer in Tulsa and transmitted to each EPG installation (a computer supplied by United Video based in a local cable headend; the computer itself would typically be an
Atari
model, like the
130XE
or
600XL
, running from a 16
KB
EPROM
chip) via a 2400
baud
data stream on an audio
subcarrier
of WGN by United Video. The cable viewer at home would see a computer-generated, scrolling listings screen. Updates ensued over the next few years, culminating in a rebrand as the Prevue Guide in 1988 (and a further one to the Prevue Channel in 1993); by this time, the Atari-based guide had been replaced with an
Amiga
-based system. Prevue ultimately proved to be more of a money-maker than WGN and the other superstations were, leading to UVSG going public in 1993. Two years later, TCI bought a stake in the company, which at this point had 1,400 employees and made $400 million in revenue a year.
[8]
[9]
As Gemstar-TV Guide International
[
edit
]
On October 5, 1999, Gemstar International Group Ltd. (which was founded by
Henry Yuen
, Daniel Kwoh, Louise Wannier and Wilson Cho) purchased TV Guide, Inc. (formerly United Video Satellite Group until after the close of the company's 1998 purchase of
TV Guide
magazine); the two companies had previously been involved in a legal battle over the intellectual property rights for their respective interactive program guide systems, VCR Plus+ and TV Guide On Screen, a joint venture of TV Guide and Liberty Media formed by video game veteran Bruce Davis in 1992.
[10]
[11]
[12]
The deal was completed in July 2000.
[13]
In 2000,
SoftBook
was acquired by Gemstar, who also acquired Softbook's competitor, the
Rocket eBook
), and merged them into the Gemstar eBook Group and released an e-reader called the RCA eBook Reader.
[14]
Gemstar had inherited much of its patent portfolio through its 1997 acquisition of StarSight Telecast, which had previously litigated against companies such as
General Instrument
and
Scientific Atlanta
.
[15]
StarSight Telecast had reportedly settled its ongoing disputes with Scientific Atlanta in 1997, entering into a licensing arrangement and marketing relationship, accepting an initial licensing payment.
[16]
The company eventually prevailed in its licensing dispute with General Instrument in 1999, although an injunction was denied on the basis that General Instrument had not infringed the relevant patents in any commercial products.
[17]
Gemstar's initial agreement with Scientific Atlanta expired in 1999, leading to various legal proceedings. Already in December 1998, Scientific Atlanta had filed a legal action alleging that Gemstar had violated federal antitrust laws and had misused its patents, seeking damages and judgements of non-infringement related to a number of Gemstar's patents. A declaration of invalidity was sought for eight patents in particular. Following up in 1999, Scientific Atlanta sued Gemstar's StarSight Telecast subsidiary for patent infringement. Such disputes also involved the
International Trade Commission
, with Scientific Atlanta seeking a declaration of invalidity and non-infringement of two StarSight patents. Gemstar responded in 1999 with a filing claiming patent infringement on imported set-top box products by Scientific Atlanta,
Pioneer Corporation
,
Echostar Communications Corporation
and SCI Systems, along with a patent infringement lawsuit against the former three companies.
[18]
Pioneer and EchoStar settled with Gemstar during the course of the ITC proceedings, which ultimately led to a settlement between Gemstar and Scientific Atlanta in 2005.
[19]
In 2002, Gemstar disclosed that it had not collected $108 million in booked revenue. The genesis of the uncollected revenue stemmed from expired licensing agreements, mainly with cable
set-top box
manufacturer Scientific Atlanta. Yuen and Gemstar
chief financial officer
Elsie Leung had been booking the revenue for over a year, as they believed
Generally Accepted Accounting Practices
allowed them to do this as Scientific Atlanta was continuing to add the company's
interactive program guide
software to its set-top boxes; the companies were also simultaneously in ongoing litigation and negotiations to resolve their disputes. As Scientific Atlanta had always compensated the company in the past, Gemstar, Yuen and Leung had reasonable evidence that the uncollected revenue would eventually be collected. When the amount accrued to a much larger sum of over $100 million, the company disclosed the information in a quarterly conference call with media and investors.
[
citation needed
]
During this time period,
News Corporation
purchased shares in Gemstar that were owned by
Liberty Media
(a multimedia company owned by
John Malone
), giving News Corporation owner
Rupert Murdoch
control of the company. Yuen was replaced as
chief executive officer
in October 2002 by
Jeff Shell
, an employee of Murdoch's who had been running the
Fox Cable Networks Group
.
[20]
Following continuing losses in the hundred million dollar range, including charges related to shareholder litigation,
[21]
Gemstar's market capitalization fell. From a high of $20 billion in 2000, during a period of high valuations of high-tech stocks, it had fallen to a low of little more than $1 billion in 2005, later recovering somewhat.
[
citation needed
]
In early 2007, Gemstar acquired Aptiv Digital, the developer of the Passport interactive program guide software used on Scientific Atlanta and
Motorola
set-top boxes.
[22]
On July 9, 2007, Gemstar chairman Anthea Disney announced that its
board of directors
has "authorized the Company and its advisors to explore strategic alternatives intended to maximize shareholder value, which may include a sale of the Company."
[23]
This move was seen by many analysts as an attempt on the part of Murdoch, who was a 41% shareholder in Gemstar, to raise cash for its attempt to buy
Wall Street Journal
parent company
Dow Jones
.
On December 7, 2007, Gemstar signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Macrovision (later
Rovi Corporation
, now
Xperi Inc.
) in a cash and stock deal, which based on the closing price for the Macrovision stock on December 6, 2007, was valued at approximately $2.8 billion.
[24]
The deal closed on May 2, 2008.
[25]
On November 27, 2009,
Virgin Media
succeeded in a patent dispute brought against it by Gemstar-TV Guide. The
London High Court
found that Virgin Media had infringed on patents EP 0969662, EP 1377049 and EP 1613066, but also found them to be invalid and moved to revoke them. The ruling called into question the ability for Rovi to enforce its patents both in the United Kingdom and with operators around the world.
[26]
Rovi Corporation appealed against the decision for two of the three patents and continued to pursue Virgin Media for infringement of intellectual property.
[27]
However, on March 29, 2011, the
Court of Appeal of England and Wales
upheld the original decision.
[28]
Virgin Media has successfully defended claims by Rovi and Patent 11 has been revoked. Rovi has been ordered by the Court of Appeal to reimburse Virgin Media's legal costs.
[29]
Rovi Corporation continues to execute and license its patents including patents from Gemstar-TV Guide to companies worldwide (including those based in the United Kingdom); in particular, in 2010 deal, the company signed a deal with
Sky
to license the company's IPG patents.
[30]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"SEC"
.
- ^
"Superstation breakthrough"
(PDF)
.
Broadcasting
. Broadcasting Publications, Inc. October 30, 1976. p. 25
. Retrieved
September 26,
2018
– via American Radio History.
"Superstation breakthrough"
(PDF)
.
Broadcasting
. Broadcasting Publications Inc. October 30, 1978. p. 26
. Retrieved
April 29,
2019
– via American Radio History.
- ^
a
b
"Music companies agree to merge"
.
Kilgore News Herald
. January 10, 1989. p. 8
. Retrieved
March 21,
2020
.
- ^
"Capital Cities-ABC has satellite stake"
.
The Daily Dispatch
. January 3, 1989. p. D1
. Retrieved
March 21,
2020
.
- ^
"The Bottom Line"
.
The Miami Herald
. August 1, 1989. p. 4B
. Retrieved
March 21,
2020
.
- ^
"Official: Cumulus Buys Dial Global, Spins Some Stations To Townsquare; Peak Stations Sold To Townsquare, Fresno Spun To Cumulus"
.
All Access
. August 30, 2013
. Retrieved
August 30,
2013
.
- ^
"Dial Global becomes WestwoodOne ahead of Cumulus acquisition"
.
Los Angeles Times
. 2013-09-04
. Retrieved
2019-09-13
.
- ^
"Roy L. Bliss 2001 Oral and Video History"
.
www.cablecenter.org
. Retrieved
2020-03-21
.
- ^
Writer, D. R. STEWART World Staff.
"Rovi Corp. now owns what was once United Video Satellite"
.
Tulsa World
. Retrieved
2020-03-21
.
- ^
On-Screen Guides: The Vanguard of Interactive Television, Red Herring, October 1993, page32
- ^
Electronic Rival To Buy TV Guide
,
The Washington Post
, October 5, 1999.
- ^
Tourtellotte, Bob (1999-09-06). Analyst: IPG fight may soon be over.
Broadcasting & Cable
, September 6, 1999.
"Archived copy"
. Archived from
the original
on 2014-06-11
. Retrieved
2014-07-28
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link
)
.
- ^
Jane Spencer and Kara Scannell
"As Fraud Case Unravels, Executive Is At Large,"
The Wall Street Journal
, April 25, 2007 (subscription required to view full article)
- ^
"Gemstar buys two e-book makers"
,
CNET
, 2000-01-20
- ^
Hall, Lee (9 August 1999).
"Gemstar, TV Guide battle to be TV's digital traffic cop"
.
Electronic Media
. pp. 15, 21
. Retrieved
28 August
2023
.
- ^
Bournellis, Cynthia; Cohen, Sarah (14 April 1997).
"Data Topics"
.
Electronic News
. p. 54
. Retrieved
28 August
2023
.
- ^
Berger, Robin (11 October 1999).
"StarSight Wins Fight with GI"
.
Electronic Media
. p. 16
. Retrieved
28 August
2023
.
- ^
Iofe, Yury; Calderisi, Matthew C. (2004).
Accounting Trends & Techniques
. American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. pp. 91?92.
ISBN
0870516043
. Retrieved
28 August
2023
.
- ^
Federal Register
. Vol. 70. National Archives and Records Administration. 23 September 2005. pp. 55919?55920
. Retrieved
28 August
2023
.
- ^
"This Isn't the Show Henry Yuen Expected"
.
BusinessWeek
. 20 June 2003. Archived from the original on 13 August 2003
. Retrieved
28 August
2023
.
{{
cite magazine
}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link
)
- ^
Sherman, Jay (8 March 2004).
"Gemstar-TV Guide Reports Narrowed Losses"
.
TelevisionWeek
. p. 20
. Retrieved
28 August
2023
.
- ^
Aptiv Digital acquired by Gemstar-TV Guide
- ^
Gemstar-TV Guide International
"Gemstar-TV Guide International Announces Review of Strategic Alternatives"
Archived
2007-09-05 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"
"Macrovision Agrees to Acquire Gemstar-TV Guide"
"
. Archived from
the original
on 2007-12-09
. Retrieved
2007-12-11
.
- ^
"
"Macrovision Closes Acquisition of Gemstar-TV Guide"
"
. Archived from
the original
on 2009-01-05
. Retrieved
2008-07-09
.
- ^
"Virgin Media wins Gemstar EPG ruling"
. Broadband TV News. 2009-11-27.
- ^
"Ruling on Litigation with Virgin Media"
. Rovi Corporation. 2009-11-30. Archived from
the original
on 2009-12-13
. Retrieved
2009-11-30
.
- ^
"Virgin Media Wins United Kingdom Appeal Affirming Gemstar Patent Ruling"
. Bloomberg. 2011-03-29.
- ^
"Virgin Media wins final Rovi patent battle"
.
Broadband TV News
. Retrieved
2015-11-27
.
- ^
[1]
Archived
2010-09-24 at the
Wayback Machine
"Rovi Signs Sky to an Extended IPG Patent License Agreement"
External links
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