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

To: DiViT who wrote (27106)	12/26/1997 2:12:00 PM
From: John Rieman	Respond to of 50808

C-Cube in Hong Kong......................................................... koreaherald.co.kr 12-27-97 : Interactive TV Service to Debut in Hong Kong in January Next January, people in Hong Kong will be able to enjoy the world's first interactive TV service offered by Hongkong Telecom. The new service, dubbed iTV, will initially offer video-on-demand (VOD), music-on-demand (MOD) and home shopping, allowing users to choose what and when they want to watch, listen or shop, all at the comfort of their homes. Other services, such as home banking, network games and broadband Internet access, are now under development for introduction later next year. ''With the launch of iTV, we are not only turning the home TV set into a revolutionary all-time infotainment center to bring to customers a convenient and enhanced way of living,'' said William Lo, managing director of Hongkong Telecom IMS, a division of Hongkong Telecom. ''We will revolutionize the way people spend time and money, shop, work and play in the future.'' Hongkong Telecom IMS, which is the largest Internet service provider in Hong Kong, has invested about HK$1 billion to develop the world-leading interactive TV services over the last three years. It plans to invest 10 times more money in the next decade to develop new services and bring them to every household in Hong Kong. According to the company, while iTV services represent cutting-edge technologies, they are made readily available to the average households having a standard TV set and a telephone line. The centerpiece of Hongkong Telecom's interactive technology is a set-top box, dubbed a Digital Smart Box, which is connected to a phone line and TV set. This set-top box allows users to call up an iTV service directly from the servers installed at Hongkong Telecom. The box is smart enough to allow subscribers to receive or make phone calls as usual and watch iTV at the same time, using the same telephone line. The set-top box was manufactured by NEC of Japan, based on the specifications provided by Hongkong Telecom. It allows users to operate it with an esy-to-use remote control. To offer iTV services, Hongkong Telecom has built a sophisticated ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) network using optical cables. Compared with other cities, network building is relatively easy in Hongkong because a large majority of people live in high-rise flats. ''The people of Hong Kong will soon see and experience for themselves the benefits of interactive multimedia services made possible by a new, advanced broadband network. We are confident they will quickly take to these services,'' said Lee Wan-gyu, an official of Hongkong Telecom's office in Seoul. The cost of using iTV, according to Lee, is affordable _ a monthly subscription fee of about HK$150-200, including rental of the Digital Smart Box. VOD and MOD services will be charged on a pay-per-view basis. VOD is one of the first services available on iTV. According to Lee, this service will provide subscribers with a choice of about 100 hours of program. ''Unlike cable TV service, which offers movies in accordance with a program schedule, iTV VOD service has no such schedule, allowing subscribers to select what they want to watch, and when they want it,'' Lee said. To offer users home shopping and home banking services, Hongkong Telecom has designed a slot in the Digital Smart Box for the insertion of a smart card. Home shoppers can browse and choose items brought to them on iTV and make purchases with simple clicks on the Home Shopping TV screen, just as they do with their PCs. According to Lee, home banking service will be made available around next April. The service will initially provide basic banking transactions, such as money transfer, balance enquiry and foreign exchange rate enquiry. Users will also be able to make withdrawals and deposits from their bank accounts with the use of a smart card. Hongkong Telecom plans to roll out iTV service initially to large private housing estates and densely pupulated areas. Its target is to achieve a customer base of 300,000 by the turn of the century, according to Lee.