Los Angeles - Gemstar-TV Guide International, the publisher of TV Guide magazine and a provider of electronic program guides for digital TV services, announced that it has hired UBS Investment Bank to help explore strategic alternatives to maximize shareholder value, including a possible sale of the company.

The company, which has a market value of about $2 billion, is controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

Gemstar has licensed its electronic program guide patents to most cable and satellite TV providers.

The company was hit with a major accounting scandal after the dot-com boom, with former chairman and CEO Henry Yuen found guilty of securities fraud for inflating Gemstar revenue between 1999 and 2002.

"There is a lot of growth opportunity in their patent and software licensing business," analyst George Sakellaris, of GARP Research, commented to the Los Angeles Times on Gemstar's prospects of finding a suitor.

"The company basically has a lock on interactive program guide technology."

Shares of the Gemstar rose over 11% Tuesday on the news.

Related Links:
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070709/20070709006257.html?.v=1

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-gemstar10jul10,1,2275383.story

http://www.gemstartvguide.com