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RCA Press Release for May 25, 1983

LONDON, May 25 -- RCA Corporation and Hitachi, Ltd. announced jointly today that they plan to introduce the Capacitance Electronic Disc ("CED") system in the United Kingdom this autumn in time for the Christmas selling season.

The announcement was made at the consumer electronic industry's Spring Trade Show.

RCA will make the video disc albums and Hitachi will supply the players for the U.K. launch.

Seiji Sudo, Executive Vice President and a Director of Hitachi, Ltd., said, "Hitachi will support the 'CED' launch in the U.K. with two stereo player models, one with infrared remote control and the other with an optional wired remote control." He said the players will carry suggested retail prices of under £300 (under $500 at current exchange rates).

Roy H. Pollack, Executive Vice President of RCA, said, "The production facilities for making video discs compatible with European television standards already are in place in Indianapolis. We will master and press European system video discs at the same plant where we make discs for the North American market. Both players and video disc albums will be sold together initially in some 1,500 retail outlets throughout the United Kingdom.

Herbert S. Schlosser, Executive Vice President of RCA, said RCA expects to have approximately 100 popular titles in the opening catalog, including some from the great libraries of RCA/Columbia Pictures International Video and MGM/UA Home Entertainment Group, Inc. New titles will be added to the catalog monthly. The video disc albums will be distributed by RCA Records' subsidiary, RCA Limited (U.K.), he added.

RCA VideoDiscs plans to set up a launch group in London to coordinate the merchandising, advertising and promotion of the video disc software.

The video disc albums will be optionally priced from £12.95 to £21.95 ($20 to $34), with many of the titles priced under £20 (under $30).

The PAL video disc player will be capable of playing up to 75 minutes of programming per side, for a total of two and a half hours of playing time.

Mr. Schlosser said, "By optionally pricing discs under £20, we believe they will be very affordable for those who want to buy and build home video libraries."

Mr. Sudo said the PAL players will be sold in the U.K. under the labels of Hitachi and others.