Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: Stoctrash who wrote (45873)	10/7/1999 12:58:00 PM
From: Black-Scholes	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Boys, the MM's are really acting strange. I think they have a HUGE order to fill.

To: Stoctrash who wrote (45873)	10/7/1999 11:13:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50808

Rogers Cable,(Bill Gates Wins) ...................................... 204.243.31.23 Microsoft Invades Canada With $400M Rogers Stake By B. MENEZES & J. CARELESS July 19, 1999 Rogers Cablesystems Ltd. became the latest operator to snare Microsoft Corp.'s largesse, gaining a $400 million investment after it agreed to license the software giant's interactive-television platform. Canada's largest MSO -- which said it plans to begin rolling out basic interactive-TV services, such as Rogers-branded e-mail and Web browsing, next year -- will use "Microsoft TV" client and "Microsoft TV Server" software to support at least 1 million digital set-top boxes. The total will include Scientific-Atlanta Inc. "Explorer 2000" boxes that Rogers has already begun to deploy. Rogers plans what it called a "Canadianized" advanced-services offering, leveraging existing Microsoft products -- such as its "Hotmail" Web-based e-mail and its MSN portal and search engine -- with interactive content from Canadian and other providers tailored for viewers in the "Great White North." In what the companies termed a separate, nonexclusive deal, Microsoft agreed to pay $400 million for Rogers convertible preferred shares and common-stock warrants roughly equivalent to a 9.2 percent fully diluted equity stake in the company. Rogers executives said the cash would help them to accelerate the deployment of advanced TV and Internet services, while aiding the heavily indebted company's push to achieve an investment-grade credit rating. "You can always use the money to continue the process of deleveraging our balance sheet, which we're committed to doing, and also to help finance the different new projects that we're embarking on," Rogers president John Tory said. The deal mirrors AT&T Corp.'s agreement to license Microsoft's client and server software for its own interactive-cable services, with AT&T promising to put the platform in up to 10 million digital set-top boxes. In return, AT&T got a $5 billion Microsoft equity investment. AT&T initially plans to deploy General Instrument Corp.'s "DCT-5000" set-tops. Rogers insisted that there was no quid pro quo between Microsoft's investment and the MSO's agreement to deploy Microsoft TV -- a still-developing platform that has not yet been deployed commercially in any interactive systems. Executives said Rogers evaluated other operating-system software, but it chose Microsoft TV because it rated it as close to production grade, and because the AT&T deal created a huge customer base to support the platform. "I have no doubt whatsoever that the Microsoft investment in Rogers will show great appreciation over the years and will turn out to be an astute and great investment apart from any technical agreements we have," parent company Rogers Communications Inc. president Ted Rogers said during a news conference announcing the deal. The deal will likely provide a boost to a Canadian advanced-cable-services business that by and large is ahead of its U.S. counterpart. Rogers covers about 89 percent of its 2.8 million homes passed with two-way networks, and it finished the second quarter with 100,500 Rogers@Home cable-modem subscribers, making it one of the largest @Home Network cable affiliates. Rogers had about 2.2 million basic-cable subscribers as of June 30, along with 1.2 million customers for its third-tier service, "MeTv." Microsoft indicated that it was in discussions with all major Canadian MSOs. But Goldman, Sachs & Co. cable analyst Lou Kerner said the primary benefit to other Canadian operators would be the "halo effect" from the Rogers investment. U.S. cable stocks rallied after Microsoft's 1997 purchase of a stake in Comcast Corp., which investors saw as validating cable's value as a high-speed interactive-data platform. "I don't think Microsoft is going to make any additional investment in cable in Canada," Kerner said. "I think they're likely to work with the other operators, but they've made an investment in the largest operator, and they will get some leverage in the deployment of their software." Kerner also said that while Microsoft would have a major position in set-top operating systems in Canada, it was unlikely to dominate because many other software firms will contribute different elements of the interactive platform. Shaw Communications Inc. senior vice president of operations Peter Bissonnette said his company was also looking closely at Microsoft as it finalized decisions about what to run on its DCT-5000 advanced set-tops. Shaw expects to begin receiving the boxes by early October and to begin deploying them later this year. Like Rogers, Shaw has had strong advanced-services sales, notching more than 110,000 @Home cable-modem customers and nearly 100,000 digital-video subscribers. Shaw has narrowed its operating-system choice to Microsoft and two other undisclosed providers, Bissonnette said.