AT&T settops.........................................
industrywatch.com
YOUNG: I'd like to
also take a look at what the deal said today about expanding Microsoft's presence in AT&T's set-top universe. The announcement said that it would go from a commitment of 5 million
to perhaps 7 1/2 million or maybe as many as 10 million of your ultimate 25 million homes, if the MediaOne deal closes. But set me straight, I thought that there had been a previous TCI commitment
for 5 million negotiated last May when John Malone was still running the company and before AT&T acquired it and when Malone and TCI also did a deal with [ Sun ] , which so infuriated Microsoft, that
they never finalized the deal and it terminated.
ARMSTRONG: Well, I'm not sure I understood your conclusion, but you were right, up until the conclusion. Yes, John Malone and TCI and Leo Henry had made a deal with Microsoft for about
5 million boxes, in order to roll out. It was a nonexclusive deal and, yes, on the other hand they made a deal with Sun for the Java software. It was a nonexclusive deal. And the two, in fact, were
to coexist in a roll-out and what this agreement does is, really, it speaks to reality. We want to go faster in the deployment of set-top boxes. We want to bring the
digital services sooner to America. And in accelerating that roll-out, we've taken our commitment to the Windows layer of that roll-out from the 5 million to the 7 to 7 1/2 million. Gut that is not
exclusive. We still have a multi-vendor environment and we still are partners with Sun and Java.
YOUNG: Well, indeed. True to your word, again, on the conference call there was discussion about the three demonstration cities. By the
way, can you identify them yet?
ARMSTRONG: No. We have several cities for each of the categories in mind and those who may not have heard that call, we're going do
large city, a small city so we can really understand and demonstrate our interest in the smaller and rural communities and then we're going to do a
third city that is a multi-vendor environment and invite others to participate just to make sure that there is meaning in this multi-vendor open, non-exclusive environment.
YOUNG: Well, you seem
to be backing up your words with actions, again, on the conference call, you made the point that even in the showcase cities where Windows CE (ph) will be optimized, even there, Java will run.
ARMSTRONG: Absolutely. It does
today, it will tomorrow.
YOUNG: OK, Mike. You were here today, Maybe you'll be here tomorrow. Thanks again for joining us on CNNfn.
Thank you.
END |
