WorldGate Communications Announces Strategic Equity Investments By NextLevel Systems, Inc. (formerly General Instrument) and Scientific-Atlanta
PR Newswire, Tuesday, August 12, 1997 at 08:18
BENSALEM, Pa., Aug. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- WorldGate Communications, Inc., of Bensalem, PA, today announced that NextLevel Systems, Inc. (NYSE:NLV) and Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. (NYSE: SFA), have both made equity investments in WorldGate. Together, the three companies are promoting the WorldGate(SM) Internet TV service, which enables cable providers to offer Internet access to consumers through their television sets without a computer, modem, or any additional in-home equipment.
Hal Krisbergh, Chairman and CEO of WorldGate Communications said, "We are very pleased to have NextLevel Systems and Scientific-Atlanta, the two leading suppliers of equipment to the cable television industry, join our distinguished group of investors. Our close working relationship with their engineering and sales teams have facilitated WorldGate's efforts to provide the cable industry and their customers what they have been asking for -- low-cost Internet service."
With 65 million cable households in the nation today, the pervasive
coverage of the cable industry places it in a unique position to deliver the Internet to 96% of the homes in the country. The WorldGate service works over advanced analog and digital cable set-top converters which are currently being installed by the millions throughout the world. The WorldGate service allows cable operators to offer the Internet access as an addition to existing
service for approximately $5.00 per month.
The WorldGate service offers full access to the World Wide Web and
personal E-mail, in addition to a rapidly growing menu of community, national, and international information sources.
NextLevel and S-A have also joined WorldGate in supporting its Channel HyperLinking(SM) service, a groundbreaking new cable industry initiative and revenue opportunity. The Channel HyperLinking service provides the viewer with the ability to push a button and instantly access Web page content associated with what they are seeing on their TV screen. It also represents the ability for advertisers to turn their fleeting 3O second ads into information-packed presentations, where viewers can request additional information, search databases, or even order products on-line. These capabilities offer cable operators a significant new source of new revenue and will be featured at the Channel HyperLinking Conference the three companies
are sponsoring in Los Angeles on September 10th.
Ed Breen, President of NextLevel Systems, stated, "The WorldGate service makes excellent use of the capabilities inherent within our new advanced analog and digital platforms. We look forward to enabling this Internet service with all of our new products."
"We foresee the day when Internet access will be a basic broadband
offering through set-top terminals throughout the world," said Robert
McIntyre, President of Scientific-Atlanta's Subscriber Systems. "WorldGate's innovative service can help unlock the potential of the Internet for the benefit of both operators and their customers."
The revolutionary WorldGate Internet TV service (patents applied for) is the cable industry's first interactive Internet service which is capable of delivering service over standard advanced analog or digital cable converters.
Using analog converters, the service provides data rates of 100,000 bits per second (100 kbps), over three times as fast as conventional phone modems. When used in conjunction with the NextLevel or S-A digital platforms, the service will achieve speeds up to 27 million bits per second (27 mbps).
WorldGate is currently in the field test phase of its rollout. Systems have already been installed in the headends of three major cable companies and more installations are scheduled in the coming weeks with other large cable operators who have deployed NextLevel and S-A's advanced analog platforms.
Full rollout is scheduled for the fourth quarter in the US, Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
WorldGate(SM) and Channel HyperLinkings(SM) are trademarks of WorldGate Communications, Inc. |
