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

To: DiViT who wrote (44042)	8/19/1999 5:27:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

Personal prime time............................ zdnet.com THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 1999 Prime Time TV is Dead Jesse Berst, Editorial Director ZDNet AnchorDesk Dinosaurs became extinct when a comet slammed into earth and they were unable to adapt to environmental changes. Likewise, television networks are being hit by a comet called interactive TV -- and they risk extinction by failing to adapt to it. I've told you before that interactive TV is going to be The Next Big Thing. Click for more. And a recent study by Jupiter Communications ranked interactive TV as one of seven technologies destined to restructure the consumer Internet economy. Prime time is dead and it's going to be replaced by personal prime time created via interactive TV features. Specifically I'm talking about: Hot spots. They'll let you take action (for example, order a pizza or get more info on that disorder Oprah is talking about) as you watch TV. Electronic programming guides. Think richer, customizable, paperless TV Guides. Programming on demand. When interactive TV began generating buzz, most assumed it would sit on fat pipes to be tapped into at consumers' discretion. But fat pipes are taking longer than expected to arrive and personal VCRs like Replay TV and TiVo are picking up the slack. Click for more. Two new deals this week brought the networks one step closer to extinction and these personal VCRs closer to dominance on the interactive TV front. First, America Online and TiVo joined forces to create interactive television applications. Click for more. Then Replay Networks announced a $57 million strategic investment from media giants Time Warner Inc., Disney and NBC. Click for more. I've also told you why network TV is faltering when it comes to new media revolutions. Click for more. Here's where else the networks made stupid choices: Networks stupidly cling to the old model of programming, rather than shifting to programming on demand. Networks should have been developing products like TiVo and ReplayTV, not investing in them at this late date. These recent dealmakers have a headstart. But interactive TV is still in its experimental stage, so other players are sure to join the race. For instance, lurking around the corner is Microsoft, who wasn't smart enough to hook up with one of these VCR-on-steroids companies to make WebTV a stellar product. Click for more. Now we know who's going to die. What remains to be seen is who's going to bury the carcass. Hit the TalkBack button below and tell me who you think will evolve into master. AOL? Replay or TiVo? Microsoft? Someone else? Or go to my Berst Alert's forum where a discussion is already underway.