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RCA Press Release for November 19, 1981

In a precedent-setting ceremony, The International Tape/Disc Association (ITA) today awarded the first "Golden VideoDisc" awards to six RCA VideoDisc albums which have grossed over $1 million at retail list price value.

The six albums initially honored by the ITA included "Rocky," "Saturday Night Fever," "Heaven Can Wait," "The Godfather," "Grease" and "Fiddler On The Roof." John Travolta starred in two of the six movies ("Saturday Night Fever" and "Grease"), making him the first superstar of video discs.

In announcing the awards, Henry Brief, executive vice president of the ITA, said, "This is an historic moment for the emerging video disc industry and for the ITA. In the years ahead, I'm sure there will be many, many more 'Golden VideoDisc' winners as this home entertainment medium becomes an important part of our society."

Mr. Brief noted that since video discs are priced substantially below prerecorded tape cassettes, a greater number of video discs had to be sold to meet the $1 million requirement.

Thomas G. Kuhn, division vice president, RCA "SelectaVision" VideoDiscs, said, "We are proud that RCA video discs received the first 'Golds' ever presented by the ITA. When you consider the wide difference in price between discs and cassettes, and the much larger population of video cassette players, it is quite an accomplishment to achieve six 'Gold' awards in the less than eight months our CED system has been on the market.

"We expect a number of other albums to qualify very shortly for the ITA's 'Golden VideoDisc' awards."

Noting that the RCA video disc system was introduced publicly in late March 1981, Mr. Kuhn said the company already has produced and shipped more than two million discs.

Mr. Kuhn said RCA will enter 1982 with a capacity to produce 10 million discs per year, more than triple the capacity available through most of 1981.

Mr. Kuhn said demand for RCA video discs continues to exceed all expectations.

He noted that all six of the award-winning video discs were in RCA's opening catalog of 100 titles. That catalog has now grown to 154 titles, and will expand substantially in 1982. Additional CED titles are available under the MGM/CBS video disc label.