Found this on the Business Wire: (And to think it is trading down 25% in the last month! - bargin city)
(NEW YORK--\(BUSINESS WIRE\)--July 11, 1996--ACTV Inc. \(NASDAQ:IATV\) Thursday stated that it is on schedule to launch its first regional programming service by the end of the year in the footprint of Prime Sports West -- to re-branded Fox Sports West this fall -- which encompasses approximately 4.9 million cable homes.
ACTV plans to introduce the service at a monthly subscription price of $9.95, which at a penetration rate of 10 percent, for example, would result in annual subscription revenues in excess of $57 million. Additional regional networks are envisioned to launch in other areas of the United States following the Los Angeles launch later this year. The most significant aspect of the findings is that customers reported increased levels of satisfaction with all genres of programming. "Both branded programming \(Prime Sports and CNN\) and ACTV original production were favorably received and exceeded our expectations," noted David Reese, president, ACTV Entertainment. "Furthermore, 80 percent of the current ACTV viewership expressed increased satisfaction with TCI of Ventura County, directly attributable to the operator's carriage of ACTV's individualized programming."
Individualized sports programming is the core of ACTV's premium service. During the past year, the ACTV channel featured more than 150 "enhanced" professional sporting events, made available by Prime Sports West, and including the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Kings, California Angels and Mighty Ducks. The sports research showed, for example, that more than 70 percent of current users expressed increased satisfaction with professional basketball and hockey events as a result of utilizing the enhanced television service. The most popular features of the service were identified as instant replay, the starcam which isolates on the star player, and additional statistical information.
For news, ACTV and CNN have been individualizing the Prime News show daily since December 1995. Over 90 percent of current users who view the individualized CNN Prime News rate the shows favorably. Viewers are offered both additional in-depth coverage of the feature stories of the day or alternative news packages. The ability to access expanded coverage about a story was a favorite feature with 61 percent of the news watchers.
William C. Samuels, ACTV's chairman & CEO added: "The research which we have undertaken has firmly demonstrated that the individualization of television programming is a category unto itself. Individualized programming, especially sports and news, lead the way in providing added value for the subscriber."
The service features individualized versions of Prime Sports West programming, news from CNN, plus children's educational programming and game shows. The project, which began in May 1995, was designed to evaluate programming, advertising and marketing elements associated with a commercial launch of the premium service in the Los Angeles area.
ACTV enhances the quality of television and computer-delivered content through the individualization of entertainment and educational programming. ACTV Entertainment operates and programs a regional service in Southern California, which features an array of individualized content from Prime Sports West, CNN, Sony Pictures Entertainment's Game Show Network and Viacom's Nickelodeon. ACTV's authoring software also enables the development of new, original program concepts and demographically targeted advertising. Using the company's proprietary authoring software, its wholly owned subsidiary, ACTV Interactive, develops distance learning and Internet software applications. ACTV has headquarters in New York. A California subsidiary, ACTV Entertainment, is located in Beverly Hills, Calif.
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