Hi Jim and Dwight, (In Re:Interactive TV)
(This is my half-informed post on this subject ;-)
There was a front page article in the WSJ a few months ago which I think bodes well for NTN. It talked about the BIG boys (TCI, Baby Bells, Microsoft, etc.) foray into ITV a few years ago, and their recent almost complete exit from the business. The reasons stated were that the technology for home access just wasn't there (read wasn't cheap enough), and the rise of the Web (invented by particle physicists, if I can indulge in some self-hype ;-). The Web allowed cheap easy access to Internet, and though the net, most of the content the new ITV divisions were contentplating could be made available, eliminating the immediate investment in ITV hardware.
IMHO, between the Mexican fiasco, the big boys tossing $100M figures at ITV, and the defuncting of INNN, NTN stock had nowhere to go from $10 but down. Now that NTN is the last left standing, it has nowhere to go but up, eventually...
BTW, NTN wasn't mentioned in the article as I recall.
On another subject, I reviewed the CC. Jerry (or Hospitality guy) talked about their equipment review, and in passing mentioned Internet connections as a possibility. Did anyone else note this? What they may be talking about is replacing the game download mechanism from sattelite to modem. If NTN can, without hurting the product, get the dish requirement out of the system, it should have a major impact on the startup costs for new locations. This would of course make the system easier to sell.
l8r,
-rich |
