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

To: anthony karpati who wrote (10007)	4/11/2000 7:31:00 PM
From: anthony karpati	Respond to of 13157

From RB by disklxik Music Leads Web, TV Combo zdnet.com By Steven Vonder Haar, Inter@ctive Week April 10, 2000 7:38 AM ET When it comes to getting new Web technology into the hands of the masses, the surest bet for Internet companies is to turn to the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin and Brittany Spears for help. After all, pop music superstars and their songs helped spread the use of online streaming audio. Later, music downloads supercharged the use of MP3 technology. And this week, a pair of companies will begin partnering to learn whether music can pave the way to around-the-clock convergence. HyperTV Networks - a New York-based unit of technology developer ACTV - this week will begin serving up continuous Web programming designed to be viewed in synch with television programming aired by The Box Music Network cable channel. The partnership represents the most ambitious effort yet to blend the capabilities of the TV and the connected PC, marking the first time a network has integrated Webcasts for all of its on-air programming. And it's no accident that HyperTV is targeting the largest rollout of its convergence systems to date with a music channel likely to appeal to a generation of mostly young Web users willing to experiment with new technology. "Music television is the killer app for convergence," says HyperTV President Bruce Crowley. "It directly addresses the Generation Y audience that is already accustomed to being on the phone while they're online while they're watching TV." The HyperTV system aims to give those young consumers one more communications channel to juggle. The company, which has handled one-time event programming for Showtime and Turner Broadcasting System, serves up content that is pushed to a user's computer and that viewers can refer to while watching television. In the case of The Box, 12 million homes receiving the cable channel will be able to tap into real-time Web programming associated with the on-air music videos. So when a video by Christina Aguilera is aired by The Box, users with a computer in the same room as their television will be able to read her biography, notes about the on-air video currently playing and a history of the artist's work. In addition to the music-related content, The Box opens a new window to electronic commerce opportunities, providing links where viewers can buy a CD, T-shirt or tickets to an artist's next concert. Ultimately, programmers may even be able to use consumers' registration information to generate merchandise offers tailored to their tastes, says Peter Cohen, senior vice president of programming at The Box. Certainly, the integration of Web connectivity represents a significant upgrade from the roots of The Box, which launched nearly a decade ago as a system that allowed viewers to request videos only by calling in to a pay-per-use telephone number. "Our mission is to take the TV experience and make it more interactive by using the technology that is available at the time," Cohen says. The number of companies trying to promote new technologies for convergence are proliferating. Dallas-based DigitalConvergence.com, for instance, is planning a May launch for a service that helps computers automatically retrieve Web sites related to on-air programming. Digimarc, a developer of digital copyright systems, is planning its own effort that weaves bar codes invisibly into magazine and newspaper ads. Despite the new rush to convergence technology, HyperTV's Crowley does not see current developments as the start of a march to integration that will push all networked applications to the single screen of an interactive television. More than 27 million homes now have at least one room of the house equipped with both a television and a computer, according to estimates by market research firm GartnerGroup. That creates a market ready-made for convergence content that may remain even after the industry crafts an effective way to deliver both television programming and the Internet via a single device, Crowley says. "There's no denying that all this will eventually appear on one screen, but there will be a certain segment of users who will prefer to experience content on two screens," Crowley says. "There are things you can do on a PC that are more dramatic than what can be offered on a single screen."