Gemstar-TV Guide Expands IPG License Agreement With Sony For European Market

23-Mar-04

Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc. announced that it has signed a multi-year agreement to extend incorporation for its interactive program guide (IPG) for consumer electronics products with Sony Corporation in Europe. The agreement also includes a patent license allowing Sony to use Gemstar-TV Guideís intellectual property in certain products with alternative, non-Gemstar IPGs designed for the European market. Gemstar-TV Guide markets its consumer electronics IPG under the brand name Guide Plus+ô in Europe. Sony currently licenses Gemstar-TV Guide's IPG for products in the U.S., where it is marketed as TV Guide On Screen , and in Japan, where it is marketed as G-GUIDE . ""Over the past two years, we've made great strides in growing our business worldwide. We are glad to extend our relationship with Sony as it underlines the strength and depth of our intellectual property portfolio in Europe and will help further our position as a world leader in the area of IPGs,"" said Mike McKee, Acting President of TV Guide Consumer Electronics. ""We look forward to continuing to work with innovative partners such as Sony to bring new products to market that simplify the increasingly complex entertainment environment by providing a quick, easy and free way to navigate programming options and to schedule recordings."" Gemstar-TV Guide's IPG is built directly into consumer electronics products, providing consumers with the industry's most advanced program guide, with no additional subscription fee or phone connection required. Gemstar-TV Guide's patented technology delivers continually updated program listings to users, and the IPG works by simply plugging in the television or recording device and activating the guide through an express set-up process. Sony Corporation is among more than a dozen consumer electronics manufacturers licensing Gemstar-TV Guide's IPG for CE including: Hitachi, JVC, LG/Zenith, LiteOn, Matsushita (Panasonic), Mitsubishi, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, Thomson, TiVo, and Toshiba.

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