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

To: anthony karpati who wrote (2327)	7/29/1998 10:18:00 AM
From: Craig Jacobs	Respond to of 4748

Speaking of "what's been happening in the telecommunications industry," Check this out Anthony... ( I'm not sure of its original origin ?) IMO, I would guess that Mr. Malone must be considering negotiating the implementation of ACTV technology with NBC ? article reads as follows... DILLER TALKS SUGGEST SHAPE OF NBC FUTURE July 27, 1998 Electronic Media via NewsEdge Corporation : The rationale behind NBC's recent talks with Barry Diller is an interest in his USA cable networks and his powerful electronic commerce platform that includes Ticketmaster, Home Shopping Network, QVC and First Auction, according to NBC executives who asked not to be identified. But an outright sale of NBC to Mr. Diller, as was widely speculated about last week, does not appear to be in the cards, according to sources close to the companies. Sources say owner General Electric Co. is considering a public spinoff of NBC to create a new stock to use as merger and acquisition currency. That prospect has set off a flurry of investment banking activity to forge a new wave of media deals that could also involve CBS and Viacom Inc. NBC sources say the company is seeking acquisitions or alliances to further its aggressive cable and Internet expansion. NBC President and CEO Bob Wright has been transforming the company into a new media giant that is as dependent on interactive, Internet-based services as it is on traditional broadcast and cable. Mr. Wright considers subscriber and licensing fees generated by cable and the Internet and transactional fees from electronic commerce to be the booming new revenue streams needed to sustain NBC's financial strength. NBC has the mass audience, advertiser ties, brand name and promotional power to make the most of Mr. Diller's undervalued electronic commerce companies, which can handle the processing, storing and shipping of products. Mr. Diller's vision has been as focused on electronic commerce as it has been on broadcast and cable. But NBC could find itself in a tug of war with TCI's Liberty Media Group, which has similar electronic commerce ambitions and a 21 percent stake in USA Networks. Officials of Liberty and TCI have been negotiating with Mr. Diller to make his interactive merchandising platforms part of their new digital cable push next year. Liberty executives and Edgar Bronfman Jr., president and CEO of Seagram Co., which is 45 percent owner of USA Networks, squashed exploratory talks between NBC and Mr. Diller earlier this month about a stock merger and other possible alliances. Sources say Mr. Bronfman does not want Seagram's ownership of USA eroded. The talks were reported last Thursday by the Los Angeles Times. A high-level executive at Viacom on Friday denied speculation that the company has had any recent deal discussions with NBC or with CBS, which has been actively exploring a sale or alliance for months. But sources say Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone is more ''receptive'' these days to exploring new alliances and even the right kind of merger. Sony Corp. also is considered a prospective broadcast network buyer. Speculation about an NBC sale were further fueled when Mr. Wright told a private meeting of media peers at an Allen & Co. retreat that NBC will be ''doing things differently in the future,'' a key source said. A spokesman for GE last week said the $300 billion industrial conglomerate has not changed its minds about retaining and growing NBC and has no plans to use GE's soaring stock to do NBC deals. But sources say GE is considering a spinoff of NBC, mirroring News Corp.'s plans for its Fox unit. In the meantime, NBC continues its Internet push by quietly buying into companies that will become part of its electronic commerce stable. GE already is a leader in transacting Internet commerce on the Web, with more than $1 billion in annual sales of industrial and commercial products. NBC is developing Snap! as the portal, or ''Internet shopping mall,'' for its electronic commerce activity. NBC will expand its 19 percent stake in Snap! to 60 percent over the next three years, while maintaining a 5 percent stake in CNET: The Computer Network.