Louisville, Colorado, February 23, 2000—Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (CableLabs®) is pleased that the cable and consumer electronics industries were able to reach an agreement on the compatibility of cable systems and digital television sets.

"We owe a debt of gratitude to FCC Chairman Kennard for his leadership role in expediting this agreement," said Dr. Richard R. Green, CableLabs president and CEO. "This agreement is great for consumers who now have a clearer path to receiving digital video," Green added.

CableLabs has incorporated the agreed upon technical specifications into the OpenCable™ process and these specifications will be available as OpenCable documents within a few days. OpenCable is a fast-track initiative sponsored by leading cable television companies, managed through CableLabs, with a goal of attaining interoperable digital set-top boxes and other advanced digital devices manufactured by multiple vendors.

OpenCable specifications with these amendments now provide a complete technical blueprint for construction of compatible digital television receivers. Receivers meeting these guidelines will be interoperable with cable systems throughout North America.

About CableLabs: Cable Television Laboratories (www.cablelabs.com) was founded in 1988 by members of the cable television industry. A non-profit research and development consortium, CableLabs delivers innovations that enable cable operators to be the providers of choice in their markets. Cable operators from around the world are members. CableLabs maintains web sites at www.cablelabs.com; www.packetcable.com; www.cablemodem.com; www.cablenet.org, and www.opencable.com.

CableLabs® is a registered trademark of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. Other CableLabs marks are listed at http://www.cablelabs.com/certqual/trademarks. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.