From: frank.kennedy@u2u.lonestar.org (Frank Kennedy) 
Newsgroups: rec.video.satellite
Subject: FCC Docket           5/15
Date: 4 Jan 93 22:32:00 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: USER-TO-USER PCBoard (214)492-6565 (USR DS v32bis)
Reply-To: frank.kennedy@u2u.lonestar.org (Frank Kennedy) 

   [ ...Continued From Previous Message ]

          and trade associations against DECTEC, and the blatant

          manipulation of Canadian law.

               Using a procedure known as an Anton Pillar Order,  which is

          unique to Canadian and British law, in 1991 General Instrument

          was able to enter DECTEC's offices and remove proprietary

          software and research files.  Reliance on Anton Pillar also

          enabled GIC to seize DECTEC's inventory of devices still  in the

          course of manufacture, so as to cripple DECTEC's ability to sell

          these devices in competition with GIC.

               Months later, during which time GIC had total freedom to

          explore DECTEC's software, a Canadian court in Montreal ruled

          that GIC's actions had been unfounded and ordered it to return

          all documents and diskettes.  Yet, even then, GIC made  a mockery

          of Canadian justice by handing over the seized documents and

          diskettes to engineers of the Videocipher Division in San Diego.7













          7. This incident was followed closely in TVRO industry publications
          and documented in submissions to the FCC
          by DECTEC.  CSC's 1991 Petition submitted to the FCC also includes
          relevant information.
           D.GIC Now Faces Competition with Titan -- Is that So?

                In its Notice, the FCC acknowledges the emergence in 1992 of

           competition in the production of the VC II from the Titan

           Corporation.  However, an investigation is needed of the links

           between GIC and Titan and of whether the Titan decoder,  alone,

           can bring about meaningful competition.

                Historically, Titan was MAA-COM/Link-abit, which is  where

           GIC obtained the technology for the VC II and DBS Authorization

           Center.  Furthermore, Titan has in its employ former employees

           from the executive end of GIC.  These same people carried out

           several of the GIC policies that undermined the HSD owner's

           interest.

                Titan claims that it will sell the VC II for less than GIC

           demands.  In order to ascertain the competitive significance of

           this, the FCC would need to examine the particulars of the

           several transactions involved.

                Recently, Titan told the trade press that it will sell the

           decoder to distributors for $249.00. The distributors, in turn,

           sell to satellite dealers, who are likely to raise the price of

           the VC II to the dealer $50.00 or more.  The dealer then raises

           the VC II price $50.00 plus and sells it to the consumer.

           Consumer prices of the Titan decoder could run as high as

           $350.00. It is therefore quite possible that there will be little

           difference between the cost of the Titan and GIC modules,  even
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Newsgroups: rec.video.satellite