(InternetWire) The Wall Street Transcript Publishes Interactive Television Report
NEW YORK, NY -- (INTERNET WIRE) -- 11/08/00 -- Spencer Wang, Director
in Equity Research at ING Barings LLC, examines the Interactive
Television sector in this timely and deeply informative 2,600-word
interview from The Wall Street Transcript (212-952-7433) or
www.twst.com/info/info209.htm
Wang Reports, "Currently, we're estimating that the consumer
interactive television market in the year 2000 will amount to about
$690 million. By 2005 we're forecasting that the consumer iTV market
will be $40 billion, which will be comprised of three revenue
streams. One key revenue stream is t-commerce, or television
commerce, which we are forecasting will grow to a $15 billion market
by 2005. Interactive advertising is projected to become a $17 billion
market by 2005. Subscription-related revenues are expected to
increase to $7 1/2 billion by 2005."
Wang likes ACTV, Inc. (Nasdaq:IATV), "Based on discussions with
industry sources, we believe that ACTV has a very strong portfolio of
intellectual property, which, as we articulated before, is critically
important in interactive television. We also think that ACTV's
interactive TV advertising application, which allows advertisers to
deliver more targeted advertisements based on the demographic profile
of each household or remote control inputs, is very promising. ACTV
also has a good management team and solid sponsorship; Liberty owns
roughly 25% of ACTV's equity."
Wang highlights Gemstar-TV Guide International Group (Nasdaq:GMST),
"Gemstar is the clear leader in the interactive television business,
and the most advanced iTV equity story in the marketplace today, with
a market cap of around $28 billion. Gemstar is the leader in the
interactive program guide business, which allows TV viewers to
navigate and find television programs based on time slot, title, or
theme. As digital television rolls out and channel options
proliferate, the IPG will become increasingly important for
consumers."
Wang asserts, "Liberate Technologies (Nasdaq:LBRT) is another great
company that we like a lot. Similar to OpenTV, Liberate provides the
software for set-top boxes that enable interactive TV services.
Recently, Liberate has won a commitment from UPEC (UPCOY), the
largest broadband network operator in Europe, to deploy its
middleware in Vienna, Austria. Separately, AT&T, the largest cable
operator in the US, will be utilizing their software in a pilot later
this year for high-end digital set-top boxes. We think this company
is very well positioned to become one of the leading providers of
middleware."
Wang discusses OpenTV Corp. (Nasdaq:OPTV), "OpenTV is the world's
leading middleware company. OpenTV's middleware is currently deployed
in over 10 million households across the world. We give OpenTV a lot
of credit for its early market share lead. OpenTV is also
successfully integrating into the application business. For example,
they have struck a deal with EchoStar Communciations here in the US
to supply both middleware and applications. As part of this
agreement, OpenTV will earn a percentage of the t-commerce and
interactive advertising revenues on EchoStar, a very important step
for OpenTV to build a stream of recurring revenues."
This issue is part of the TWST TECHNOLOGY SECTOR
To obtain a copy of this issue order online at
www.twst.com/info/info209.htm or call (212) 952-7433. This special
section is also included in the TWST Technology Sector of TWST
Online.
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