300k shs looking to buy.
Its good to have electricity, phone, and water! Still no cable.
Another good article with ACTV.
By: its_outta_here
Reply To: 2108 by its_outta_here Monday, 20 Sep 1999 at 8:22 AM EDT
Post # of 2117
TV Convergence Efforts Pick Up Momentum-ACTV mentioned
cableworld.com
Like the broader interactive television field, the idea of TV-convergence is staging a strong comeback among both TV programmers and Web site developers.
More and more cable programmers are tinkering with efforts to link TV shows with specially synchronized content on the Internet. Even though this requires viewers to use their TVs and computers simultaneously, they believe that the "two-box" experiments will prepare consumers for fully interactive TV on one box.
In the latest example, Viacom's Showtime Networks Inc. announced a deal last week with ACTV Inc. to develop Web content and community chat features tied to Showtime programming. Starting this fall, ACTV's HyperTV Networks Inc. unit will deliver customized content built around Showtime's Friday night science fiction shows and boxing telecasts.
Similarly, HyperTV Networks is working with the Box to develop Web content linked to the network's music videos. That service may debut as early as next month at the Atlantic Cable Show in Baltimore.
In addition, Viacom's MTV Networks plans to launch a new game show this fall that will link to interactive content on a related Web site. Like the other experiments, the new show, "Web Riot," is aimed at the estimated 20 million or so "convergence" homes where consumers already watch TV and use the Internet simultaneously.
"It all has to be 'A' content," said Rob Davis, executive producer of convergence for MTV Networks Online. Speaking at last week's eTV World conference in New York, he said the idea is to "create today's new experience on yesterday's box, not the box of 2003."
The moves come as ESPN and ABC Sports offer an "enhanced TV" programming service over the Internet in conjunction with live pro and college football telecasts on the two Walt Disney Co. networks this season. Producers are hoping to draw at least 100,000 to 200,000 viewers per football game to the synchronized Web content.
But at the same time, other interactive players are moving ahead with plans to deliver additional enhanced TV applications through the TV set-top box, not the PC. Earlier this month, Wink Communications Inc. signed up yet another programmer, Oxygen Media, for its elementary interactive service for cable and satellite TV subscribers.
Along the same lines, Microsoft Corp.'s WebTV Networks unit showed off its newest attempt to add interactive features to its basic Internet TV service at eTV World. Working with Columbia TriStar Television and Game Show Network, WebTV is starting to offer interactive versions of two popular TV game shows, Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, as part of its subscription service.
WebTV executives noted that, despite the continuing surge in PC and Internet penetration, TV sets are still in far more U.S. homes. They cited consumer research indicating that 99% of all U.S. households have a TV and 43 million homes have four or more sets.
"TV watching is engrained in our culture," said Jon DeVaan, VP-Microsoft's consumer and commerce group. In an eTV World speech, he predicted that such interactive and personalized TV applications as electronic programming guides and live TV pausing will prove far more popular than Web-over-TV features over the next decade.
With cable and telephone broadband connections now in more than 1 million North American homes and the number continuing to surge, other speakers predicted that rich, multimedia Web content will explode over the next few years. Mark Simmer, chief content officer for Lycos Inc., argued that the Internet is racing toward the "1 million-channel universe," far beyond the scope of cable's much-hyped 500-channel universe.
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