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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stoctrash who wrote (41900)	6/10/1999 2:05:00 PM
From: BillyG	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50808

NBC/TiVO. Question: You can buy one digital VCR (Replay) that skips commercials and another one that won't (TiVO). Which one do you buy? I know which one you & I would buy, but I guess that NBC didn't have much choice......... newsbytes.com NBC Buys Tech That Threatens Traditional TV 09 Jun 1999, 4:10 PM CST By - By Laura Randall, Newsbytes. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., NBC, apparently adopting a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" philosophy, said it plans to purchase a stake in TiVo Inc., a company that makes set-top boxes that give TV viewers control over how and when they watch programs. The alliance marks the first venture by a television network into a market that it expects to take the consumer world by storm and radically change traditional TV viewing habits. Under the agreement, NBC will make "significant equity investments in TiVo" in exchange for a prominent position on TiVo's electronic programming screen, Mike Ramsay, chief executive of TiVo, said on a joint conference call with NBC. The agreement also allows NBC Cable President Tom Rogers to join TiVo's board of directors. "Digital recording is going to happen, and it's clear it's going to be an integral part of the TV viewer's future," Rogers said in explaining the network's decision to invest in TiVo. Digital video recorders use a hard drive instead of a video cassette tape to record programs. The device comes in the form of a set-top box and provides an on-screen electronic schedule that lets viewers record programs with the click of a button. Say a TV viewer gets a phone call during the middle of a TV program, for example. With the digital recorder, he can begin recording the program, take the phone call, and resume watching the program when he gets off the phone without having to wait for the program to end or rewind a tape. Industry analysts say digital recorders are poised to become a hot commodity in the consumer electronics market. International Data Corp. released a report Tuesday predicting a "robust" growth outlook for the new devices similar to the one that DVD players experienced when they debuted on the market. (See Newsbytes, June 8, 1999) TiVo, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based firm, is marketing its technology under the Philips brand and through DirecTV satellite service for price of $499, plus a monthly service fee of $10, said IDC analyst Kevin Hause. TiVo's competitor, Replay Networks, sells its product for $699 with no monthly fee. Both products are slated for widespread commercial release in the fall, he said. An important difference in the two technologies - and one that played a key role in NBC's decision to invest in TiVo - is the way they handle commercials. Replay offers viewers a skip-ahead button that it markets as a way to eliminate commercials. TiVo, by contrast, doesn't have such a button, although it lets viewers fast-forward through ads and programming similar to the way video cassette recorders do. Rogers made it clear on the conference call that NBC chose TiVo over other developers of the technology because their views were "in sync" on advertising's role in the new technology. "TiVo's essential ingredient is it will preserve the advertising model that is essential to the technology being developed," Rogers said. [Excuse me, the advertising model doesn't have a damn thing to do with the technology being developed. It may play a part in reducing the costs to the end users by subsidizing the cost of the boxes for viewers who will put up with fast-forward rather than "skip."] IDC's Hause warned in his report that the emergence of digital video recorders will have negative implications for network programmers and advertisers because of the product's time-shifting and ad-skipping features. "While sponsorships, targeted spots and more interactive commercials may offer new advertisement opportunities to these new vendors, a backlash is likely from the companies who currently generate revenues from ad sales," Hause said. Reported by Newsbytes.com, newsbytes.com16:10 CST Reposted 16:42 CST (19990609/Press Contacts: Sheri Dupart or Jason Taylor, Blanc & Otus, 650-404-0900/WIRES ONLINE, PC, BUSINESS/NBC/PHOTO) Copyright (c) Post-Newsweek Business Information, Inc. All rights reserved.