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Technology Stocks : IATV-ACTV Digital Convergence Software-HyperTV -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mkilloran who wrote (8797)	1/9/2000 11:28:00 PM
From: Magic212	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13157

Good find, MKilloran. Thank you. Here's the section entitled "I want my IATV" Several readers, led exuberantly by a psychology grad student named Dave Taragan, proposed ACTV (IATV) as a potential 100-bagger. It's a digital media company whose patented software finally may fulfill the promise of interactive television. ACTV's software allows television and cable broadcasters to combine multiple, real-time feeds of video, audio and data into a single signal beamed at every home equipped with a special Web browser plug-in. It lets TV viewers enjoy a highly personalized relationship with shows -- from viewing sports replay angles of their choice to point-and-click purchase of beer, toys and other items directly from ads. The Showtime division of Viacom (VIA) and some Fox Sports Network channels already are experimenting with this stuff, which appears to hasten the convergence of television and the Internet. Says Taragan: "At the dawn of the personal computer revolution, IBM (IBM) made the box, Intel made the chip and Microsoft made the software. Now as we face the digital television/Internet revolution, General Instrument (GIC), Scientific-Atlanta (SFA) and Sony make the box, or set-top computer; Broadcom (BRCM) makes the chip; and ACTV makes the software. The convergence of TV and the Web is going to result in the most critical applications you ever saw, ranging from individualized mass-market advertising, impulse e-commerce buying; distance learning; interactive game shows; sports wagering and anything else you might want to do from your couch. ACTV owns the patents that makes this all possible; it is positioned for greatness." Trailing 12-month revenues are a paltry $2 million, while 12-month losses are up to $27 million. But before you dismiss this company as just another nutty interactive television venture, consider that major shareholders include the Washington Post (WPO), which is itself largely controlled by Warren Buffett, cable pioneer John Malone's Liberty Media Group (LMGA), General Instrument, hedge-fund titan Paul Tudor Jones and the Janus mutual fund complex. **** Still trying to figure out how we "compare/contrast" with GMST... Again, thanks, Leslie