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

To: Jim Mulis who wrote (2941)	9/23/1998 7:55:00 AM
From: Steve Hausser	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4748

ACTV Gets a Plug; Plans to Expand Services (Cable World) By Joshua Cho John Malone's Liberty Media Corp. said on Sept. 15 that it was investing $5 million in New York-based ACTV Inc., representing a 10% stake in the company. As part of the agreement, Liberty said it also has an option to inject another $5 million in to the company. In a written statement, ACTV said it would use the money to expand its regional "Individualized Television" services. Such services are part of a recently announced association with FOX Sports Net and Cablevision's Rainbow Sports, as well as with other alliances. Robert Bennett, Liberty's president and CEO, was quoted in the statement as saying, "This partnership will combine our programming experience with ACTV's powerful digital technology and enable us to offer viewers an improved television experience." Initial reactions from industry analysts were cautious. "The question is, ‰Are the consumers ready for it?" asked Tom Eagan, an analyst at PaineWebber. "And with all that's happening in terms of interactivity and digital, the question becomes, ‰Have the consumers caught up to the technology?'" ACTV's patented software technology allows an "interactive-type" television experience using a standard digital set-top box and remote control. Viewers with the ACTV service have the ability to choose different camera angles during sporting events, select which commercials they watch and play interactive games and access educational programming. The software remembers particular responses and commands, having the ability to provide individualized programming. ACTV's programming utilizes pre-recorded segments and software technology to provide an "individualized" experience (the company prefers not to use the word interactive). Viewers are able to play casino card games, for instance, using this type of technology. The company's Star Cam allows viewers to focus on a featured player throughout a game. Instant replays, statistics, score summaries, interviews and other video features are also available for sporting events. Whether consumers are ready, or even want this type of television, still remains to be proved. "There's both a learning curve and an adoption curve," Eagan said of any type of new technology. "Two years from now we might be buying theater tickets off the TV through the Internet. We won't quite know whether it will be that popular until we trace the learning curve and therefore the adoption curve." ACTV and FOX Sports Net have a long-term agreement for ACTV to provide its individualized programming of FOX Sports Net's professional and collegiate sports events to any of FOX Sports Net's regional networks. FOX Sports Net is a national cable network comprised of 22 owned and affiliated networks' regional sports channels and is part of the National Sports Partners, a joint venture between Cablevision's Rainbow Media Holdings Inc. and FOX\Liberty Networks. The latter is a 50/50 partnership between News Corp. and Liberty Media Corp. National Sports Partners' regional and local sports programming currently reaches some 60 million domestic homes, according to the company. Set-top box maker General Instruments Corp., as well as The Washington Post Co. and The Sarnoff Corp., are currently investors in ACTV.