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Microcap & Penny Stocks : IATV - ACTV Interactive Television -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Steve Hausser who wrote (1850)	3/20/1998 8:58:00 AM
From: Steve Hausser	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4748

Since last year ACTV's content has been improved exponentially. The guys at this year's San Antonio show flipped for ACTV. Nobody thought Wink to be in the same league. In addition there were tech concerns regarding Wink. I spoke to Mike McDaniel a couple times and I think he knows what the killer app is-look at what he wrote last year about an inferior ACTV product: 4:58 PM 2/21/1997 Digital option steals show at cable conference By MIKE McDANIEL Copyright 1997 Houston Chronicle TV Editor "Digital" is today's television buzzword, and it got plenty of use at the annual meeting of Texas cable executives in San Antonio. The Texas Show, which concluded Friday, is a chance for cable company presidents, programmers, marketers and engineers to stick a wet finger in the air and feel which direction the wind is blowing. This year, wind currents traveled a digital path. Among the 170 exhibitors' booths at the show were several touting the latest in cable programming available now, but seen in very few markets. Networks like the Outdoors Channel, the Golf Channel, Classic Sports TV, the Encore Multiplex and the Game Network are hungry to expand their market penetration. That won't happen, however, until cable companies upgrade their systems, either with the initially expensive laying of fiber-optic lines or the less-expensive conversion to digital technology. Houston's Warner Cable has taken the fiber route, as did the now-defunct Prime Cable. TCI was going the fiber route also but stopped that upgrade in November to study the digital option. Early indications are that TCI is happy with its experiment with ALL-TV, now being tested in three disparate markets -- one East Coast, one West, and one in mid-America. The tests are not about the technology, which has been proven, but about whether customers might be willing to try the service in significant numbers. The digital system converts a television signal into 1's and 0's, which are then retranslated into TV images via a set-top box. Among the beauties of the system are laser disc-quality pictures and CD-quality sound, but the technology also permits eight or more TV signals to be compressed into the space taken by one analog signal. The major upfront costs to a cable company involve the set-top box, currently priced about $400. To recoup that expense, the company must see that enough customers are willing to pay more for the additional channels the service offers. In the initial testing area --Hartford, Conn. -- requests for the service exceeded TCI projections. Testing is only getting started in the other two areas, but TCI executives at the Texas Show were confident it would succeed. That could place such communities as Houston on the fast track for cable-digital TV. One source said digital could be available at TCI here as early as September. The digital revolution in TV transmission could be an immediate boon for a New York company called ACTV, which has developed a mind-blowing software program that dramatically improves the TV viewing experience. This week, the company signed a pact with Fox Sports Southwest to provide the service to cable-digital TV homes for an estimated monthly fee of $9.95 per subscriber. To be used initially on live sporting events, ACTV permits the viewer, via a remote control, to choose between the normal broadcast of a game or other options, including: ú "Star cam," which broadcasts the game from a camera isolated on a single player. ú Replay, which permits "instant replays" at any instant and as often as requested. ú Instantaneous in-depth stats. A demonstration of the feature at the Texas Show worked flawlessly and caused jaws to drop. ACTV also has software plans for news and entertainment shows. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Looks like paying subs real soon, Steve

To: Steve Hausser who wrote (1850)	3/21/1998 11:19:00 AM
From: The Pope	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4748

Slightly off topic - I've been reading these articles about digital televisions and HDTV. Obviously, there will be set-top boxes capable of converting the digital signals to analog for those of us who can't or won't buy a digital TV. Will the analog signal be of higher resolution than today's analog broadcasts? Even if it isn't full HDTV resolution, something is better than nothing. I have a 50-inch rear projection, and switching over from a DVD movie to broadcast television is always a letdown. If I were to subscribe to ACTV, would I get an enhanced viewing experience with my current setup (50" rear projection w/ 6-channel digital surround sound)? If so, it'd be worth $19.95/month even without interactivity. Can I get enhanced resolution just by switching to a satellite provider? If I do switch to satellite (DirectTV, for example), will I still be able to subscribe to ACTV (when and if it becomes available), or will I still need to subscribe to a cable service?

To: Steve Hausser who wrote (1850)	3/21/1998 6:55:00 PM
From: art slott	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4748

>> ACTV's programming partner is Fox Sports Net, and its cable provider is TCI Digital Cable. Fox Sports Plus has debuted in Dallas and is expected to roll out in Houston any day. It will cost the consumer $9.95 per month.<< Steve is this true? Gabelli is on the CAVUTTO BUSINESS REPORT. He is very high on Sports Properties. They all agreed that some media properties have done well thanks to his advocacy/sponsership. It will be rebroadcast Sat. 9:00 AM EST. Worth watching. Art