Some news from the Western Cable show (found under TCI - TCOMA), although ACTV is not mentioned directly:
Wednesday December 10, 8:59 pm Eastern Time
Cable industry aligns with high-tech world
By Andrea Orr
ANAHEIM, Calif, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Cable TV pioneers Ted Turner and Barry Diller in the same
room with computer software gurus Bill Gates and Larry Ellison?
Not quite, but the cable television industry's annual trade show here did feel a little more crowded
this year as some of the biggest names in the business talked uneasily about joining forces with the
powers of Silicon Valley.
The Western Show, the biggest event in the cable industry, is devoted this year to a future where
cable will deliver not just TV programs, but Internet access, e-mail, telephone service, and almost all
of a household's information needs.
The cable industry says it is ready to deliver on this promise -- that in fact, it needs to in order to
keep its customers happy.
But after years of trying without much success to go high-tech on its own, this year cable companies
are aligning with the likes of Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp. and other high-technology giants.
''1998 will be the year of the alliance,'' Leo Hindery, president of cable giant Tele-Communications
Inc. [Nasdaq:LBTYA - news], said in opening remarks at the show.
''Our new opportunities are new products. There are limits to market penetration, but there is no
limit to the products we can introduce.''
But no sooner had Hindery described this sunny future of two industries working together than the
egos emerged and the salvos started flying.
Time Warner Vice Chairman Ted Turner and HSN Inc. Chairman Barry Diller said they were more
than a little concerned about Microsoft, or any other single company, becoming too big a player in
their industry.
''What does (Microsoft Chairman) Bill Gates want to do?'' Diller asked hypothetically. ''Does he
want to play the same role in this convergence as he played in making the world a 'Windows
world?'''
The exhibits at the Western Show were packed with demonstrations of high-tech convergence at work: cables that download Internet pages instantly, and interactive TV shows that let you get a
custom-made weather forecast, or even request your own music videos.
Cable companies say these are only the first of a slew of new products and services they will offer in
the coming years.
But big cable companies are resisting the idea of too close an alliance, in which television programs
and the Internet can be accessed from the same screen.
They said Wednesday they want to keep televisions and computers two separate appliances.
''We're smart enough as an industry to not let one maker of hardware or software control this
industry, whether its Bill Gates, (Oracle Chairman) Larry Ellison, or whoever,'' said Turner. ''If you
have a monopoly, you get fat and lazy and you overcharge.'' |
