Flashnet/ACTV deal looks better every day. Read this:
FlashNet Offers Free PCs to Its Internet Customers
Fort Worth, Texas, June 9 (Bloomberg) -- FlashNet Communications Inc. will give free personal computers to people who agree to use the small Internet-service provider's service for at least two years, as a way to attract subscribers.
FlashNet, which has 200,000 subscribers, said it's trying to reach the 50 percent of U.S. homes that don't have personal computers and Internet service. The computers will be used machines with 64 megabytes of memory, an Intel Corp. Pentium processor, a 56-kilobit modem and Microsoft Corp. Windows operating software, the company said.
Fort Worth, Texas-based FlashNet is following Free-PC.com, which in February said it would start giving away computers, Internet access and electronic mail to people who agreed to disclose personal information and watch advertisements.
FlashNet customers have to sign a two-year service contract at $21.95 a month or a three-year contract at $19.95 a month to get the computers. The cost to the company wasn't immediately available.
FlashNet, which went public in March, is one of the smaller publicly traded Internet services. America Online Inc., the world's largest online service, has more than 17 million subscribers, while Prodigy Communications Corp., the No. 6 service, had nearly 600,000 subscribers at the end of March.
Its shares fell 1 1/8 to 21 1/2.
Meanwhile, analysts have said $500 personal computers will be common by the end of the year, and eMachines Inc. is pricing new ones as low as $399.
Jun/09/ 99 16:40
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