by Frank Barnako, CBS MarketWatch
Net-on-TV backers hopeful
Offering access to the Internet should be the next big thing for the cable companies, according to executives at companies developing enabling technologies. "Cable operators need new services to generate new revenues, and offering e-mail, Internet access and interactivity are the opportunities," said Bow Rodgers, chief operating officer of PowerTV Inc. (www.powertv.com), in comments this week at the Online News Summit '98 in Washington, DC. Rodgers' company has developed an operating system for cable operators to use to deliver Web content over television sets.
Agreeing was a vice president of Worldgate Communications (www.wgate.com), Gerard Kunkel. And he suggested a St. Louis cable company's just-begun test of his company's experience is evidence the Net can be a big deal for cablers. "Our system requires no additional hardware or PC card. I heard the cable company had 3,000 orders the first day, with no promotion," he also told CBS MarketWatch at the conference. Worldgate delivers Net access through a TV set, too, using the vertical blanking interval in a television broadcast signal. Also using the VBI is WavePhore Inc.'s WaveTop product, which does require a computer and a tuner card (www.wavephore.com). Senior vice president Sandy Goldman touted his system's continuous reception of content from selected Internet Web sites, for storage on the PC's hard disk, as a convenient, and speedy, alternative to dealing with what some call the World Wide Wait. While the number of TV-tuner equipped PCs is small today, Goldman estimated the inclusion of his company's software in Windows 98 will kick off hockey stick-like growth of card purchasers, reaching 20 million installed units by the year 2000. Goldman announced that his company will begin streaming video and audio content soon, including live events.
PowerTV's Rodgers said proprietary company research indicates a receptive market to having access to Net content via cable TV. While there is not yet a "killer app" which will create demand, or a perhaps even a business, overnight, almost 60 percent of respondents say they would welcome an electronic program guide. He said a bundle of services including music, news, weather, stocks and Net access was very attractive at an average price of $7.78.
The Online News Summit's chairman was new media consultant Dominick Paul Noth and was produced by the World Research Group. |
