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Technology Stocks : AUTOHOME, Inc -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ahhaha who wrote (1101)	1/10/1998 1:16:00 PM
From: Frost Byte	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 29970

Friday January 9, 5:24 pm Eastern Time Teleport deal gives AT&T closer ties to cable By Jessica Hall NEW YORK, Jan 9 (Reuters) - AT&T Corp's (NYSE:T - news) proposed $11.3 billion acquisition of Teleport Communications Group Inc (Nasdaq:TCGI - news) gives Ma Bell a way to develop Internet telephony and local residential telephone services through its new ties with Teleport's cable television backers. ''AT&T's going to give control of the local strategy to Teleport management. And since Teleport was nurtured by the cable guys, you could expect a much closer relationship between AT&T and the cable industry given their mutual respect for Teleport,'' said Laura Martin, media analyst with First Boston. As part of the Teleport acquisition announced Thursday, Tele-Communications Inc (Nasdaq:TCOMA - news; Nasdaq:LBTYA - news; Nasdaq:TCIVA - news), Cox Communications Inc (NYSE:COX - news) and Comcast Corp (Nasdaq:CMCSA - news) will see their combined 66 percent stake in Teleport converted into a ten percent stake in AT&T. These cable companies have already dabbled in providing local phone service over cable television wires and also hold a majority-ownership stake in companies such as @Home Corp (Nasdaq:ATHM - news), which provides Internet services over cable television wires. These ventures could be the launching pad AT&T needs to enter these markets, analysts said. ''It's likely that in the talks with Teleport, AT&T had talks with the cable company owners. And some of those discussions could have touched on @Home or other relationships,'' Martin said. AT&T declined to comment about possible ventures with the cable companies. In addition to @Home, the cable companies offer a way for AT&T to reach residential customers, analysts said. ''AT&T has limited options in the residential market. The end game will eventually be a merger with an RBOC (regional Bell operating company), but the regulatory environment needed for that to happen is not here yet,'' said Tod Jacobs, a telecommunications analyst with Sanford Berstein. ''It's expensive to launch a wireless local loop. So until an RBOC deal becomes more do-able, AT&T could dabble in cable as an option,'' Jacobs said. Cox has made the most progress among cable companies in providing local telephone service. Cox already offers service in Orange County, Calif, and is expected to roll out in the rest of its market within two years. The others have quietly backed off from the idea since the cost of upgrading the television lines to transmit voice and data services became too daunting, analysts said. The cable companies have now shifted their priorities to digital TV, but having ties with AT&T could make local telephone service a more viable option in the future, analysts said. ''The focus now is on digital TV and high speed data transfer, but these investments in the telecom market let the cable companies hedge their bets in a variety of areas as they wait for the telecom market to shake out,'' said Chris Dixon, a cable analyst with PaineWebber.

To: ahhaha who wrote (1101)	1/11/1998 11:39:00 AM
From: TLindt	Respond to of 29970

I'll try for the lower end of the range 20ish......That'd put me in the money most of the time Historically. I think the technology provides the path to bandwith......which is what the net is going to need more of not less of. If there is one thing I've observed during the PC revolution....going back to the Zilog Z80 16K...pre Intel Machines is they will always, always, always overload the CPU with advancements in Software. In the Nets' case they will overload the bandwidth with content, video & sound. And the surfing public will demand it, and upgrade to it.