DIRECTV, Inc. Announces Equity Investment in TiVo Inc.

DIRECTV, TiVo Partner to Market Personal Television Service

EL SEGUNDO, CA, April 27, 1999 - DIRECTV, Inc., the nation's leading digital television service provider, announced today it has made a major investment in TiVo Inc. As a result, DIRECTV becomes TiVo's largest corporate investor with an ownership position in excess of 10 percent. As part of the agreement, DIRECTV and TiVo will partner to jointly market the TiVo Personal Television Service to new and existing DIRECTV subscribers. Specific terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

"Our investment in TiVo, along with our marketing partnership, furthers our commitment and support of the personalized TV concept," said Larry Chapman, executive vice president of DIRECTV. "We partnered with TiVo because we believe that they offer the best available solution for bringing personalized TV to our subscribers. TiVo represents the latest installment in our 1999 interactive roll-out strategy. Additional interactive products and services will be announced throughout the year."

"DIRECTV's endorsement of TiVo's personal television service and technology reinforces its commitment to delivering the best entertainment value to its more than 4.8 million subscribers," said Mike Ramsay, founder and CEO of TiVo. "The TiVo Personal TV Service and DIRECTV are a natural combination that brings the television viewing experience to a whole new level. With more than 185 channels of programming to choose from, DIRECTV subscribers will now be able to further personalize their viewing, access many more programs on demand, pause and rewind live TV and make sure that they will never miss a minute of their favorite television shows."

DIRECTV and TiVo will work together to market the TiVo personalized TV service and Philips Personal TV receiver to existing and potential DIRECTV subscribers. In addition, DIRECTV will allocate bandwidth that will enable TiVo to take advantage of a broadband channel to receive data and video content. Using this capability TiVo's "Showcases" will feature program previews and movie trailers. In TiVo's "Showcase" area viewers will learn about new shows and specials and be able to easily select them for future recording.

In addition to its equity investment, DIRECTV will receive its own "DIRECTV Showcase" on the TiVo service and secure a position on TiVo's board of directors.

The "DIRECTV Showcase" may feature DIRECTV's programming services, highlights of pay-per-view movies and special events, and other timely information from DIRECTV that viewers can select and retrieve at their convenience.

DIRECTV, Philips and TiVo have previously announced an agreement to collaborate on the development and marketing of a Philips-branded DIRECTV System receiver that will allow viewers to get both DIRECTV programming and the TiVo personal TV service in a single set-top box.

A lifetime subscription to the TiVo service with a 14-hour Philips Personal TV receiver is $698. A 30-hour receiver with lifetime subscription is priced at $1,198. Alternatively, customers may choose from monthly or annual TiVo service packages at $9.95 and $99 respectively and Philips Personal TV receiver configurations at $499 for 14 hours and $999 for 30 hours.


DIRECTV is a registered trademark of DIRECTV, Inc., a unit of Hughes Electronics Corporation. The earnings of Hughes Electronics are used to calculate the earnings per share attributable to GMH (NYSE symbol) common stock. Visit DIRECTV on the World Wide Web at www.directv.com.

TiVo, headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif. is the originator of personal television. The TiVo service allows consumers to take control of their television viewing by providing the ability to pause, rewind, instant replay and playback in slow-motion any live television broadcast. As part of TiVo's easy-to-use service and patented consumer electronics technology, viewers can time-shift their favorite television shows and create a customized television lineup for anytime viewing. The company was founded in August 1997 by former Silicon Graphics senior vice president Michael Ramsay and vice president James Barton, both of whom have been instrumental in earlier generation efforts of interactive video-on-demand systems and Hollywood special-effects technology. TiVo's board of directors includes Stewart Alsop of New Enterprise Associates, Geoff Yang of Institutional Venture Partners and WebTV founding director Randy Komisar. TiVo can be reached on the World Wide Web at www.tivo.com. The stand-alone TiVo/Philips set-top box is currently available via TiVo's toll-free number at 877-FOR-TIVO, or on the web at www.tivo.com.