Starguide Digital Networks Granted Satellite Ethernet Delivery Technology Patent.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 4, 2001

Removable Card Offers Flexibility, Eliminates the Need

for Separate Router to Distribute IP Content

in Satellite Distribution Systems

StarGuide Digital Networks, Inc., a leading provider of satellite transmission systems, today announced that it has been issued U.S. Patent No. 6,160,797, entitled "Satellite Receiver/Router, System, and Method of Use." This new patent covers removable Ethernet cards utilized in satellite receivers as well as satellite receiver cards that provide Internet Protocol (IP) router functionality, often eliminating the need and expense of a separate router in IP-over-satellite distribution systems. The technology is an important addition to the proprietary StarGuide(R) III satellite transmission system, StarGuide's CoolCast(R) streaming media aggregator and broadcaster, and StarGuide's Transportal 2000(TM) professional and corporate multimedia distribution system.

StarGuide's CoolCast subsidiary utilizes this IP-over-satellite technology to facilitate the multicast distribution of streaming video and audio to unlimited numbers of broadband PC users. Use of the removable card within a satellite receiver, such as the StarGuide III, provides an integrated receiver and router at the edge of the Internet, with the ability to distribute CoolCast's content into a computer network. With this patent, CoolCast's technology has secured a total of four patents, highlighting its innovation and leadership in the fields of satellite distribution and streaming media.

In May, 2000, ZoomTown.com, the broadband Internet subsidiary of Broadwing Inc. (NYSE:BRW), began using the CoolCast(R) Internet edge multicasting system and delivering the CoolCast(R) service to its ADSL subscribers in the Greater Cincinnati area, the nation's most highly concentrated base of broadband users.

StarGuide also uses this technology in its patented Transportal 2000(TM) system to distribute content for professional digital audio and video broadcasters by satellite, terrestrially, and through the Internet. StarGuide's Transportal 2000(TM) system is currently being deployed by Clear Channel Communications (NYSE:CCU), Premiere Radio, and ABC Radio in conjunction with a conversion of their nationwide satellite transmission networks from old "Sedats" technology, also owned by StarGuide, to StarGuide's new state-of-the art and patented StarGuide(R) III satellite transmission system. The StarGuide(R) III transmission system is currently being deployed by Jones Broadcast Programming as it converts its prior StarGuide(R) II system and its prior Wegener system to the StarGuide(R) III system.

"This Ethernet distribution technology is one of many important innovations StarGuide has brought to satellite transmission, Internet content distribution, and related areas of technology," said Jeff Dankworth, President of StarGuide. "We believe that this new patent, the thirteenth awarded to our relatively young company, further establishes our pioneer status in the field of satellite based digital content distribution."

Other significant patents recently procured by StarGuide include: U.S. Patent No. 6,094,671 entitled "Aggregate Information Production and Display System" issued July 25, 2000; U.S. Patent No. 6,180,101 entitled "High Bandwidth Broadcast System Having Localized Multicast Access to Broadcast Content" issued August 8, 2000; and, U.S. Patent No. 6,128,374 entitled "Method and Apparatus for Transmitting Coded Audio Signals Through a Transmission Channel With Limited Bandwidth" issued October 3, 2000. StarGuide has other patents allowed and pending.

StarGuide Digital Networks recently agreed to merge with DG Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:DGIT) in a tax-free stock-for-stock transaction. Further information about StarGuide can be found at www.starguidedigital.com.

StarGuide's wholly-owned subsidiary, CoolCast (www.coolcast.com), is an Internet broadcaster that delivers join-in-progress streaming media combined with regular Web content to PC users. The CoolCast service is currently available to thousands of broadband Internet users nationwide through partnerships with DSL service providers such as Broadwing Inc.'s (NYSE:BRW) ZoomTown.com and BRE Properties (NYSE:BRE), and is expanding this network through an agreement with Alcatel (NYSE:ALA). Additional partnerships and content relationships are pending.