Gemstar-TV Guide International gained its 2nd major cable carriag...
Gemstar-TV Guide International gained its 2nd major cable carriage deal in a month, signing 20-year agreement with Comcast for MSO to offer Gemstar’s interactive program guide (IPG) to digital cable subscribers. Under pact, which consists of initial 10-year deal…
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plus 10-year extension, Comcast will offer Gemstar’s advanced program guide to nearly all of its current 1.5 million digital cable subscribers and future digital customers in return for up to 15% of guide’s ad revenue and up to 50% of guide’s TV commerce revenue. Most notably, Comcast agreed to offer Gemstar’s IPG on its Scientific-Atlanta digital set-top boxes, which now feature only box manufacturer’s house brand guide. “We plan on having a substantial majority of their IPGs,” said Gemstar Co- Pres. Peter Boylan, whose guide already is in 1.2 million of Comcast’s 1.5 million digital cable households. “We've structured the deal so that Comcast has strong incentives to give us all of its business.” But Gemstar didn’t receive exclusive deal from Comcast, which means that MSO can keep rolling out its own partly owned IPG from WorldGate Communications. “We've preserved the right to continue to use it [WorldGate’s TV Gateway guide] and others in a decent number of homes,” Comcast spokewoman said. Boylan said pact with Comcast also calls for MSO to offer Gemstar’s TV Games Network horse racing channel in 2 states where TV betting is legal. In addition, he said, Gemstar will have “extensive collaborative relationship” with Comcast’s QVC home shopping channel as result of deal. New carriage agreement follows similar deal between Gemstar and Charter Communications in Feb.