August 6, 1999
New division to focus on interactive TV
AT&T Broadband & Internet Services is creating a new division to coordinate the development and deployment of interactive TV content and services. Laurie Priddy, who also heads AT&T?s National Digital Television Center, is president of the newly established Interactive Offerings Group. With commercial availability of General Instrument?s DCT-5000 set-top to come this fall, early-stage interactive TV tests should come in 2000?s first quarter with commercial launches later in the year, Priddy says. While the focus will be TV-centric, it will go well beyond interactive advertising and Internet-over-TV, says Priddy. Other interactive features likely will include local information delivery, high-tech home shopping, sports stats and isolation cameras, and interactive game-playing. Priddy declined to discuss detailed plans, but past initiatives and the growing holdings in TCI Music (soon to be Liberty Digital) hint that the list will be large. The group, which will grow from 10 staffers at start-up to as many as 50 by year-end, will use seed money to invest in selected vendors. An advanced network, hardware and software all are key ingredients and AT&T sees the two-way Internet protocol-based DOCSIS cable modem platform and advanced digital settops as fundamental building blocks, Priddy says. An early iteration of the business model shows the consumer paying for the set-top and receiving most services without additional charge. ?We?d like to make it as low-cost as possible, if not free, to the customer,? Priddy says.
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