By: Atheist
Reply To: 32145 by tm5597 Thursday, 16 Mar 2000 at 1:18 PM EST
Post # of 32170
Page2 of Cazennove's research (I finally found out how to do it)
Using a patented process which facilitates seamless switching between live feeds, ACTV can
provide interactive television content to an unlimited number of viewers. Within sports
programming for example, viewers can select different camera angles, elect to watch instant
match replays, or callup player statistics. Individualised television technology can also be
applied to advertising; during commercial breaks, viewers can choose to watch an advertisement
for a particular product (a car manufacturer with an ad. slot might provide a choice between four
separate models, for example). ACTV is exploiting its patents through Digital Adco.
In November 1999 Digital Adco (ACTV 51%) was formed in partnership with Motorola. This
venture is now expected to be one of the most important business drivers for ACTV, exploiting
huge television advertising budgets with its proprietary technology. Advertising agencies are
believed to view the potential of this new technology as a highly attractive means of raising the
proportion of advertising dollars spent on television.
Settop boxes are capable of storing distinct demographic profiles and it is feasible that, in the
future, neighbours watching the same broadcast will receive entirely different advertisements. It
is generally considered that advertisers will pay a premium for more precise targeting and that a
shift from direct mail towards direct television advertising could well take place. One cable
operator has estimated that Digital Adco could increase annual advertising revenue by $15$20
per subscriber. With regards to privacy issues, the cable operator, not ACTV, remains the
proprietor of subscriber profiles.
Adco will generate fees by licensing software to cable operators, by transmitting advertisements
to a particular location, by inputting interactive code into material produced by the creatives and
by offering production services. ACTV expects that a Digital Adco prototype will be running on
one of the major US cable networks by Q4 00, with full scale launch envisaged for Q1 01.
One of the main competitors to ACTV in ?tcommerce? is Wink Communications (NASDAQ WINK),
whose product can be provided over analogue systems and has therefore gained immediate
acceptance. However, the ACTV product in its entirety is probably far more flexible and exciting
to use; it holds proprietary ?bookmarking? patents for instance which enable viewers to return to
an advertisement after broadcasting, should they want further product information. Wink might
end up more focussed towards backend transaction management, a service already provided
for Liberate (NASDAQ LBRT), which has its own operating platform.
In the UK, some of the functionality of the ACTV system is offered through the BSkyB platform
developed by OpenTV (NASDAQ OPTV). Although the switch is not seamless, viewers are able to
choose from a selection of camera angles using technology developed by NDS (NASDAQ NNDS).
ACTV?s seamless switching process, which is vital for advertising applications, is patented and
could perhaps be included as an application within the OpenTV operating system in future.
ACTV has agreements with 5 of the 19 Fox Sports Nets which, in total, reach 72m US
households. The initial rollout will cover Fox South West, which has about 6m analogue and
600,000 digital subscribers. The Individualised television product will be offered as a premium
service to digital customers at a cost to the subscriber of $9.95 per month, with the cable
operator capturing half the premium and ACTV the balance (collected by the cable operator).
television
Digital Adco
Competition is not
direct?
? and proprietary
technology could be
adopted by new
operating platforms
Initial rollout of service
in Q4 00
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