TV Guide vs. Microsoft. Article from Cnet.
I think that when this article is read with reference to our agreements with TCI, TV Guide Interactive, and United Satellite Video Group that picture begins to emerge.
"An interactive guide is one of the drivers of the digital set top box even in its current form..."
"Indeed, some in the industry believe that these guides will be the equivalent of Web browsers for digital TV..." Remember that Microsoft got blindsided by Netscape in web browsers, and it looks like they will not do as well with interactive guides in the long run.
"TV Guide could conceivably provide the technological interface for these boxes (set top), not Web TV..."
"TV Guide ...may be looking to partner with high-speed Internet services such as @home for enhanced viewing features..."
"TV Guide's...new online site will have a number of advanced features, including the ability to order pay per view programs over the internet." Can you say "Hyper TV"?
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
February 1, 1999, 4:00 a.m. PT
Could TV Guide one day compete with Microsoft?
As odd as it may sound, that could eventually happen in some
business areas as lines dividing the worlds of television and
computers continue to blur.
TV Guide, a unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, is set
to relaunch its online and interactive entertainment news and
program listings today during the magazine's new awards
show. The renewed push into the digital age is the first public
fruit of the June acquisition of TV Guide by
Tele-Communications Incoporated and United Satellite Video
Group.
Prevue Interactive, a service offered by
USVG, will be renamed TV Guide
Interactive. Available to more than 1.5
million subscribers, the service is growing
by 10,000 a day, the company said.
With a remote control, viewers can check listings by time,
channel, category, or name and use the service for such
conveniences as scanning program schedules in advance.
While such uses sound simple, they present enormous
business opportunities as the electronic programming guide
becomes one of the most-used applications in the digital TV
set-top boxes that are being developed and deployed by cable
companies.
"An interactive guide is one of the drivers of the digital set-top
box even in its current form," said Michael Harris, president of
Kinetic Strategies
Indeed, some in the industry believe that these guides will be
the equivalent of Web browsers for digital TV because they will
allow consumers to navigate an increasingly complicated array
of program choices. As such, they also represent a significant
piece of screen real estate to control, especially as cable
companies start to use these guides to offer viewers the ability
to buy merchandise related to ads or shows they've seen.
Microsoft has been eager to move in to the emerging market,
having purchased Internet set-top service provider WebTV to
further those goals. One of WebTV's key features is its
interactive program guide and the ability to link shows with
Web-based advertising.
Of late, the company has separated the WebTV service from
earlier hardware roots to expand its use to other set-top boxes
made by different companies. For example, the company has
partnered with TCI to provide its operating system software in
digital set-tops.
However, TCI also owns a significant chunk of TV Guide and
appears to be willing to use its properties to ensure that it
continues to command viewer attention--in other words, TV
Guide could conceivably provide the technological interface for
these boxes, not WebTV.
TV Guide, facing declines in ad pages in the print edition, isn't
waiting for widespread distribution of new digital set-top boxes.
The new online site will have a number of advanced features,
including the ability to order pay-per-view programs over the
Internet.
"We are taking the Prevue Online guide and marrying it into the
TV Guide Entertainment Network," said Jessica Marshall,
managing editor and interim general manager of TV Guide
Online. Prevue Online had a number of cutting-edge features
but was not as well known as some other sites, she said.
Now the site, which gets a claimed 32 million page views a
month, will show video clips of coming programs, a feature for
notifying people by email when their favorites are about to air, a
comprehensive movie database, and soon a database of
episodes and celebrity information.
"These are tools for modern living," Marshall quipped.
TV Guide, which contracts with Microsoft's WebTV service for
program listings, may be looking to partner with high-speed
Internet services such as @Home for enhanced viewing
features.
"Given the comprehensiveness of our video library and our
development muscle, we're a natural partner with broadband,"
Marshall said. "We haven't cast our lot with any
particular operation, though."
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