Late last week, <A HREF="http://www.hughes.com">Hughes Electronics</A> announced that it had reached an agreement with <A HREF="http://www.primestar.com">PrimeStar</A> to acquire the 2.3-million-subscriber PrimeStar direct broadcast satellite (DBS) medium-power business and Tempo high-power satellite asset in two transactions valued at approximately $1.82 billion. The combination of <A HREF="http://www.DirecTV.com">DirecTV</A> and PrimeStar---along with United States Satellite Broadcasting (USSB), the multichannel movie service that agreed to merge with Hughes last month ($1.3 billion in cash and stock)---makes DirecTV one of the top three television subscriber services in the US.

Audio industry pioneer Jim Fosgate has joined an elite group of engineers and scientists who have made significant contributions to the advancement of television technology.

Last week, <A HREF="http://www.foxhome.com/">Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment International</A> announced that it will enter the DVD market beginning in September with the release of <I>Titanic</I>, followed by a slate of Fox's top film titles. Fox's DVD products will be distributed directly in the international marketplace by the company's subsidiary offices in Australia, Benelux, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain, and the UK.

On May 22, <A HREF="http://www.fmi.fujitsu.com/apt/aptMain01.asp.">Fujitsu Microelectronics, Inc.</A> (FMI) announced the latest addition to its line of Plasma Display Panels, a 32"-diagonal unit less than three inches thick and weighing less than thirty pounds. The new PDP will make its official debut at the <A HREF="http://www.sid.org">Society for Information Display</A> (SID) Conference to be held June 3&ndash;8 in San Jose, CA.