wessman
April 21st, 2003, 08:28 PM
SonicBlue (Replay/Rio) Bought By D&M
from the play-it-again-sam dept.
posted by michael on Wednesday April 16, @10:07 (tv)
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/04/16/140255
An anonymous reader writes "Here's the announcement that many have been waiting for all week. Yesterday, the [0]ReplayTV and Rio product lines of now-defunct [1]SonicBlue were auctioned off in a bankruptcy court. Despite earlier negotiations failing to result in a deal, the Japanese holding company D&M, makers of high-end Denon and Marantz stereo gear, [2]bought the product lines for $36.2 million. The big question is what about all of the "lifetime subscriptions" that people bought? No answers as of yet, but we can all be hopeful."
Links:
0. http://www.replaytv.com/
1. http://www.sonicblue.com/
2. http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/030416/tech_sonicblue_1.html
Sonicblue sells ReplayTV, Rio to Denon parent
By Franklin Paul
Wednesday April 16, 7:47 pm ET
NEW YORK, April 16 (Reuters) - Bankrupt consumer electronics maker Sonicblue Inc. (Other OTC:SBLUQ.PK - News) on Wednesday sold its ReplayTV service and Rio portable music systems to Japan's D&M Holding, effectively ending its run as a digital audio pioneer and its threat to major media companies.
Japan's D&M Holdings Inc. (Tokyo:6735.T - News), parent of high-end audio equipment makers Denon Ltd. and Marantz Japan Inc., won a bankruptcy court auction to acquire Sonicblue's ReplayTV television recording service and Rio portable audio unit for about $36.2 million.
Under the agreement, which is expected to become final in about 10 days, D&M bought inventory, intellectual property and capital equipment, and will assume some contractual relationships and liabilities.
The final acquisition price was below the terms of a tentative deal in March under which D&M was to have paid $40 million, as well as the assumption of some $5 million in liabilities.
That pact with D&M fell through, which left the assets of Santa Clara, California-based Sonicblue up for auction as part of its bankruptcy process.
"The company got some much better and faster conditions to closing" under the final auction as compared to the original deal, Greg Ballard, Sonicblue's chief executive, told Reuters.
A D&M spokeswoman said the company plans to continue to allow ReplayTV users to connect to the service, allowing access to program guides in order to save television programming to a hard drive for later viewing.
However, she said the company has not yet determined if it will continue to offer all of ReplayTV's features, which include the ability to skip commercials as programs are recorded, and to send some saved programs over the Internet.
"We just really haven't decided what mix of features we're going to offer yet with DVRs," Michael Seedman, the D&M executive who will oversee the units, told Reuters.
The features raised the ire of major media players such as Walt Disney Co.(NYSE:DIS - News), Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIAb - News) and the TV networks, which filed lawsuits against Sonicblue claiming that ReplayTV violates copyright laws, and robs them of ad revenue.
Rival systems made by TiVo Inc. (NasdaqNM:TIVO - News). and EchoStar Communications Corp. (NasdaqNM:DISH - News) do not feature a skipping option, although users can fast-forward past ads.
"We don't know what the Hollywood folks are going to do," Ballard said. "I know that D&M is going to have to sit down, and is sitting down, trying to understand all the issues that are involved."
SONICBLUE SELLS ASSETS, D&M BOOSTS BRANDS
With the sale, debt-laden Sonicblue has now shed its most important assets, including Rio, which was best known for making the first mainstream device to play music in the popular MP3 format, and also makes other portable music players.
Ballard said that with the auction, all that remains of Sonicblue is some cash, a few patents and ownership of some shares in Taiwanese chip foundry United Microelectronics Corp. (Taiwan:2303.TW - News). Those assets are also being sold, he said.
The deal could throw the spotlight on D&M, as it uses the popular Rio and ReplayTV brands to boost its brand recognition in the home-entertainment and networking arena. The company on Wednesday set plans to launch a new digital development group under D&M Holdings U.S. Inc., and will place within it the Sonicblue assets.
That follows its acquisition in March of home entertainment system maker McIntosh Laboratory, from Japan's Clarion Co Ltd. (Tokyo:6796.T - News)
D&M said that for the last 12 months ReplayTV had revenue of about $22 million and Rio had revenue of $62 million.
D&M added that the costs related to the acquisition will be slightly dilutive to its earnings in fiscal year 2003 but add to earnings thereafter. In addition, it said it remains comfortable with the consensus market analyst earnings per share estimates for fiscal year 2003.
Earlier this month, the California bankruptcy court approved Sonicblue's sale of its GoVideo business unit, which makes DVD players and digital home theater systems, to Opta Systems LLC. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. (With additional reporting by Ben Berkowitz in Los Angeles)
Copyright © 2003 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
from the play-it-again-sam dept.
posted by michael on Wednesday April 16, @10:07 (tv)
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/04/16/140255
An anonymous reader writes "Here's the announcement that many have been waiting for all week. Yesterday, the [0]ReplayTV and Rio product lines of now-defunct [1]SonicBlue were auctioned off in a bankruptcy court. Despite earlier negotiations failing to result in a deal, the Japanese holding company D&M, makers of high-end Denon and Marantz stereo gear, [2]bought the product lines for $36.2 million. The big question is what about all of the "lifetime subscriptions" that people bought? No answers as of yet, but we can all be hopeful."
Links:
0. http://www.replaytv.com/
1. http://www.sonicblue.com/
2. http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/030416/tech_sonicblue_1.html
Sonicblue sells ReplayTV, Rio to Denon parent
By Franklin Paul
Wednesday April 16, 7:47 pm ET
NEW YORK, April 16 (Reuters) - Bankrupt consumer electronics maker Sonicblue Inc. (Other OTC:SBLUQ.PK - News) on Wednesday sold its ReplayTV service and Rio portable music systems to Japan's D&M Holding, effectively ending its run as a digital audio pioneer and its threat to major media companies.
Japan's D&M Holdings Inc. (Tokyo:6735.T - News), parent of high-end audio equipment makers Denon Ltd. and Marantz Japan Inc., won a bankruptcy court auction to acquire Sonicblue's ReplayTV television recording service and Rio portable audio unit for about $36.2 million.
Under the agreement, which is expected to become final in about 10 days, D&M bought inventory, intellectual property and capital equipment, and will assume some contractual relationships and liabilities.
The final acquisition price was below the terms of a tentative deal in March under which D&M was to have paid $40 million, as well as the assumption of some $5 million in liabilities.
That pact with D&M fell through, which left the assets of Santa Clara, California-based Sonicblue up for auction as part of its bankruptcy process.
"The company got some much better and faster conditions to closing" under the final auction as compared to the original deal, Greg Ballard, Sonicblue's chief executive, told Reuters.
A D&M spokeswoman said the company plans to continue to allow ReplayTV users to connect to the service, allowing access to program guides in order to save television programming to a hard drive for later viewing.
However, she said the company has not yet determined if it will continue to offer all of ReplayTV's features, which include the ability to skip commercials as programs are recorded, and to send some saved programs over the Internet.
"We just really haven't decided what mix of features we're going to offer yet with DVRs," Michael Seedman, the D&M executive who will oversee the units, told Reuters.
The features raised the ire of major media players such as Walt Disney Co.(NYSE:DIS - News), Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIAb - News) and the TV networks, which filed lawsuits against Sonicblue claiming that ReplayTV violates copyright laws, and robs them of ad revenue.
Rival systems made by TiVo Inc. (NasdaqNM:TIVO - News). and EchoStar Communications Corp. (NasdaqNM:DISH - News) do not feature a skipping option, although users can fast-forward past ads.
"We don't know what the Hollywood folks are going to do," Ballard said. "I know that D&M is going to have to sit down, and is sitting down, trying to understand all the issues that are involved."
SONICBLUE SELLS ASSETS, D&M BOOSTS BRANDS
With the sale, debt-laden Sonicblue has now shed its most important assets, including Rio, which was best known for making the first mainstream device to play music in the popular MP3 format, and also makes other portable music players.
Ballard said that with the auction, all that remains of Sonicblue is some cash, a few patents and ownership of some shares in Taiwanese chip foundry United Microelectronics Corp. (Taiwan:2303.TW - News). Those assets are also being sold, he said.
The deal could throw the spotlight on D&M, as it uses the popular Rio and ReplayTV brands to boost its brand recognition in the home-entertainment and networking arena. The company on Wednesday set plans to launch a new digital development group under D&M Holdings U.S. Inc., and will place within it the Sonicblue assets.
That follows its acquisition in March of home entertainment system maker McIntosh Laboratory, from Japan's Clarion Co Ltd. (Tokyo:6796.T - News)
D&M said that for the last 12 months ReplayTV had revenue of about $22 million and Rio had revenue of $62 million.
D&M added that the costs related to the acquisition will be slightly dilutive to its earnings in fiscal year 2003 but add to earnings thereafter. In addition, it said it remains comfortable with the consensus market analyst earnings per share estimates for fiscal year 2003.
Earlier this month, the California bankruptcy court approved Sonicblue's sale of its GoVideo business unit, which makes DVD players and digital home theater systems, to Opta Systems LLC. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. (With additional reporting by Ben Berkowitz in Los Angeles)
Copyright © 2003 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.