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Technology Stocks : Westell WSTL -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SteveG who wrote (8210)	12/11/1997 1:26:00 AM
From: Ken M	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 21342

A hole in the dike. Watch for a AT&T and TCI merger. ANAHEIM, Calif, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Cable TV pioneers Ted Turner and Barry Diller in the same room with computer software gurus Bill Gates and Larry Ellison? Not quite, but the cable television industry's annual trade show here did feel a little more crowded this year as some of the biggest names in the business talked uneasily about joining forces with the powers of Silicon Valley. The Western Show, the biggest event in the cable industry, is devoted this year to a future where cable will deliver not just TV programs, but Internet access, e-mail, telephone service, and almost all of a household's information needs. The cable industry says it is ready to deliver on this promise -- that in fact, it needs to in order to keep its customers happy. But after years of trying without much success to go high-tech on its own, this year cable companies are aligning with the likes of Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp. and other high-technology giants. "1998 will be the year of the alliance," Leo Hindery, president of cable giant Tele-Communications Inc., said in opening remarks at the show. "Our new opportunities are new products. There are limits to market penetration, but there is no limit to the products we can introduce." But no sooner had Hindery described this sunny future of two industries working together than the egos emerged and the salvos started flying. Time Warner Vice Chairman Ted Turner and HSN Inc. Chairman Barry Diller said they were more than a little concerned about Microsoft, or any other single company, becoming too big a player in their industry. "What does (Microsoft Chairman) Bill Gates want to do?" Diller asked hypothetically. "Does he want to play the same role in this convergence as he played in making the world a 'Windows world?'" The exhibits at the Western Show were packed with demonstrations of high-tech convergence at work: cables that download Internet pages instantly, and interactive TV shows that let you get a custom-made weather forecast, or even request your own music videos. Cable companies say these are only the first of a slew of new products and services they will offer in the coming years. But big cable companies are resisting the idea of too close an alliance, in which television programs and the Internet can be accessed from the same screen. They said Wednesday they want to keep televisions and computers two separate appliances. "We're smart enough as an industry to not let one maker of hardware or software control this industry, whether its Bill Gates, (Oracle Chairman) Larry Ellison, or whoever," said Turner. "If you have a monopoly, you get fat and lazy and you overcharge."