Another story on the topic. This is the first example of ATHM spreading outside the basic high-speed internet world. I think that it gives us a whole new range of topics to discuss about where this can go.
How much potential revenue is here? Will people take to specialized internet interfaces over TV?
Where else can ATHM go? There is a lot more opportunities than just the $40/month computer user.
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news.excite.com
Excite@Home Announces Content Applications and Network Services For Interactive Television
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Updated 5:47 PM ET August 17, 1999
Leverages Existing Broadband Platform and Systems to Deliver Next Generation Television Experience
Current quotes (delayed 20 mins.) ATHM 39 5/8 1 9/16 (4.11%)
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Aug. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Excite@Home (NASDAQ:ATHM) today announced a suite of modular content applications and network services specifically for television set-top boxes, offered to all cable partners. This family of products and services is based upon existing, proven Excite@Home platforms and technologies currently in-use by tens of millions of individuals. Excite@Home set-top services to enable advanced set-top devices for the cable industry will be available later this year.
"No organization is better equipped than Excite@Home to enable broadband, IP-based, interactive services for television," said Tom Jermoluk, CEO and Chairman of Excite@Home. "This continues to support and work towards our strategy of 'All Band, All Device, All The Time."
Excite@Home's suite of set-top products and services for all cable partners includes:
Network Operations and Services -- Excite@Home provides and operates a turnkey platform for providing broadband IP connectivity and services to DOCSIS-enabled interactive devices. Such services include IP transport over Excite@Home's 16,000-mile national high-speed backbone; regional caching of web content and distributed hosting of Excite@Home and third-party content applications; private peering with other large ISPs; billing services and back office systems integration; device and service provisioning; usage data collection; customer support tools; and network operation, monitoring, and management.
Client Software -- Excite@Home's line of client software applications provides consistent, intuitive navigation through television channels, interactive services, and Web content. Excite@Home's resident application for advanced set-top boxes such as the General Instrument DCT5000 runs on popular operating systems such as Windows CE and supports DOCSIS carriage of broadband IP-based interactive services. It is readily portable to other advanced hardware and operating platforms and works with leading middleware providers. In addition, Excite@Home's Local.TV application enables information-on-demand services for currently-deployed digital set-top boxes, including the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 2000 and General Instrument DCT1200/2000. Local.TV for PowerTV devices is licensed and distributed by PowerTV, in partnership with Excite@Home.
TV E-Mail -- Built upon the existing Excite@Home email platform which currently supports over 7 million users, the server-based HTML email application is designed specifically for NTSC television display and supports navigation via a handheld remote control and/or wireless keyboard.
Interactive Services -- Excite@Home's broadband interactive services portal provides a framework for delivering advanced applications for television. Optional, modular platforms provide personalization, search, community, and commerce capabilities. Content applications such as chat, shopping, classifieds, games, horoscopes, movies, and auctions are also available. Excite@Home's "conditional access over IP" technologies provide site and service authorization and viewer authentication capabilities.
Advertisement Serving, Targeting, and Analysis - Excite@Home has leveraged its proven rich media interactive advertising platform to provide world-class targeting, serving, analysis, and reporting capabilities for television set-top platforms. Excite@Home and its MatchLogic subsidiary currently:
Serve 7 Billion interactive advertisements per month.
Manage over 1000 ad campaigns per quarter
Have relationships with 1200 advertisers, 100 advertising agencies, and 1600 publishers and merchants.
Reach over 45% of all daily web users
Serve 8 of the top 10 worldwide advertisers
Lead the industry in advertising and marketing-focused Data Warehousing applications
Broadcasting of Data and Interactive Services -- Excite@Home's Local.TV data and broadcasting technology allows cable operators to provide rich interactive services to currently-deployed cable set-top boxes. Excite@Home's suite of Local.TV authoring, scheduling, and publishing tools simplifies and automates the creation and distribution of local and regional interactive content.
About Excite@Home
Excite@Home is a global media company based in Redwood City, Calif. Through the company's narrowband portal, Excite (www.excite.com), and broadband services, @Home and @Work, the company uniquely offers consumers content and interactive services across both narrowband and broadband. The rich media advertising and database marketing solutions of Enliven (www.enliven.com) and MatchLogic (www.matchlogic.com) offer advertisers highly targeted interactive marketing and reporting services across all platforms of delivery. Leveraging the high-speed, always-on attributes of cable, Excite@Home empowers unique multimedia applications that go beyond current Web experiences. The company will combine the Excite brand-one of the best known names on the Internet with 70 percent recognition among Web users-with the @Home broadband service's broad distribution, a worldwide footprint of 67 million cable homes, to deliver on its vision of "All Band, All Device, All the Time." |
