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Gold/Mining/Energy : USA Video Interactive (US:ASE) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: j g cordes who wrote (511)	11/29/1997 4:28:00 PM
From: diddlysquatz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1841

Jim, I'll do my best to answer your questions, I'm sure others will correct me where I'm wrong. "A. Is US delivery system unique, who are its competitors.. are there operational systems in service now?" I'm not quite sure what US Video's delivery system is. I noticed the last news release stated they have "integrations expertise". Callisto, I believe is working on an ISP delivery system. There are several operational systems being put together now. "B. For a cable operator looking delivering video on demand (vod), is US or Callisto more easily implemented, costs of hardware upgrade and costs of product." This is where we start to see some of the difficulties that companies must face and would take hours to explain. Cable companies can not use their existing analogue systems to deliver video on demand. Most data (videos) need to be sent digitally and "addressed" to the specific target. You can't just pick up the phone and tell Roger's to send you a movie. An example of addressabilily is digital broadcast satellite. To receive DTH services you need a receiver which has an address allowing the DTH provider to send only what you request. The signal is digital which allows compression and therefore wider bandwith. Electronic Digital Delivery (EDD) will allow a viewer to request a particular video (or any other data product) via the TV screen at any time and within the time necessary to pop your popcorn download it on your recorder ready for viewing. All this for a similar price of a video rental from the corner video store. What I find interesting is that Callisto has the video server capable of holding 20,000 hours of video and 100,000 simultaneous streams of data. This has good potential for your PC but not for your TV just yet.

To: j g cordes who wrote (511)	11/29/1997 4:57:00 PM
From: diddlysquatz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1841

Jim C. "More bothersome within your conversation is that Rogers is financially unable to implement vod now." Roger's can deliver data via its WAVE internet service, in some areas, to your computer not your TV. Roger's has plans to upgrade its cable system to offer digital delivery to your TV however, this means upgrading the system from start to end, this is where the picture gets ugly (no pun intended). Roger's is saddled with over $5.5 billion in debt. They added another $600 million in debt the last quarter mostly because of their Cantel subsidiary. The company is operating at a loss, larger than most analysts expected (have you seen their stock lately?). The funds necessary to upgrade their entire system is huge. The company will have an extremely difficult time raising additional dollars for any new service. Whereas in Canada, ExpressVu (BCE) and Starchoice, satellite services are capable already with their digital service. Echostar, Primestar, and DirecTV are the DBS companies in the US with this capability as well. D. "Are there operational vod systems in the usa which have a sales momentum in place/ or is US active in trying to market here?" I am not very familiar with the US market in this regard. However some interesting things to watch for. Divx is something that I feel will tie in well with VOD. Divx allows recording on a Digital Video Disk. The recording can be used over and over within 48 hours after which the data disappears. Most movie studios are big fans of this technology and have already promised to deliver their new releases in this format. So not too long from now you will be able to select a channel on your tv scroll amongst a huge list of available movies, select one you want and within five minutes have it downloaded ready for viewing on your TV all from the comfort of your couch. And if you have to stop for a pee break just pause the recording and not miss a second which is far better than current pay-per-view. Anyways, Jim I hope this helps. There is alot more to this industry than what I have written here. Cheers, Paul