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To: Donald Skjold who wrote (2985)	9/29/1998 7:56:00 AM
From: Steve Hausser	Respond to of 4748

Liberty making big plans By Bob Diddlebock Denver Post Business Writer Sept. 29 - Liberty Media Corp., the well-heeled Tele-Communications Inc. TV programming division expected to grow into an even more powerful industry player after the cable company merges with AT&T, said Monday that it has created an interactive programming arm. In a release, Englewood-based Liberty Media said the new division will "focus on the development of interactive programming and content for emerging new media platforms through internal development, acquisitions and partnerships." Lee Masters, who recently announced his resignation as president-chief executive officer of the E! cable network, will assume those same titles beginning Jan. 1 at Liberty Interactive, which will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Media. Liberty Media also announced Monday that Bruce Ravenel, a longtime TCI executive, has been named executive vice president-chief technology officer of the new company. He'll assume his new responsibilities immediately, the company said. "It's kind of difficult to discuss something that hasn't been created yet," said Masters, widely credited with transforming E! whose bread and butter is light entertainment programming, into a cable force with almost 50 million U.S. subscribers. Masters said the most important element in developing interactive TV will be the cable set-top box, which will let cable operators and other video service providers pump digital TV, high-speed Internet access, telephone and other sophisticated services into consumers' homes. Will consumers, who have shown little interest so far in such sophisticated fare, eventually catch on? "(Liberty Media Chairman) John Malone recognizes that all of this must be TV first," Masters said. "It has to be compelling video. Then, you use the set-top box technology for all the other stuff. "It has to be customer-friendly, transparent, and easy and simple to use through a remote control." Masters, who said he'll continue to live in Los Angeles but spend "a lot of time" in Denver, wouldn't say how much Liberty Media will invest in the new venture. "Let's just say that the entire company is incredibly well-funded," he said with a laugh. Malone, who's also TCI's chairman-chief executive officer, is expected to focus almost all of his energies on Liberty Media if AT&T's $48 billion deal to acquire the cable company closes early next year. At that point, Liberty Media by some estimates will have access to more than $12 billion. Liberty Media's stock closed Monday at $36.38 cents, down 25 cents. Its 52-week high, hit July 14, is $44 a share. Discussing Liberty Media in a July interview with Broadcasting & Cable magazine, Malone called it a "financial company" that will continue to grow. "I've got the cash, I've got the capital," he said. "So from the day this (AT&T) deal closes, the open-for-business sign is going up. We would love to be a good investment partner for a whole bunch of media companies where our end result is to own a piece of them in an efficient, non-threatening way." Along those lines, rumors that Malone is looking at buying a share in NBC have resurfaced. Liberty Media's United Video Satellite Group Inc. is pushing ahead to buy TV Guide from News Corp. And last week, Liberty bought a 10 percent interest in ACTV Inc. - an ambitious company that lets viewers interact on-screen with TV news and sports programming - for about $5 million. United Video also is working on a deal with News Corp. to buy out the cable partners in Primestar Inc., the direct-broadcast satellite service that serves more than 2.5 million U.S. subscriber

To: Donald Skjold who wrote (2985)	9/29/1998 7:57:00 AM
From: Steve Hausser	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4748

September 29, 1998 New TCI Unit Plans to Create Interactive Cable Programs By LESLIE CAULEY Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Liberty Media Corp., the programming arm of Tele-Communications Inc., is forming a new unit to develop interactive programming, and aims to convert one channel on TCI systems into a dozen or more digital channels, according to executives familiar with the plan. The moves, if all goes according to plan, would give Liberty a huge platform for launching interactive services, including home shopping, ticket-ordering and banking. About 33 million households are located within the geographic reach of the cable systems of TCI and its affiliates. TCI has about 10 million actual subscribers; the channel deal would be focused initially on those customers. Liberty is the entity that will be left on its own, essentially, once AT&T Corp.'s purchase of TCI closes next year. Liberty will be headed by TCI Chairman John Malone, who has presided over it for years from his perch at TCI. AT&T in June announced plans to buy TCI for $31.8 billion in cash and stock, which included a cash payment of $5 billion to Liberty, essentially with no strings attached. Any channel arrangement between AT&T and Liberty wouldn't go into effect until the AT&T-TCI merger closes. Lee Masters, currently president and chief executive of Comcast Corp's E! Entertainment Television unit, will be president and chief executive of the new interactive unit, called Liberty Interactive. In an interview, Mr. Masters described the channel that Liberty expects to receive as "beachfront property. It's a great asset." Bruce Ravenel, a TCI executive vice president, was named the unit's executive vice president and chief technology officer. Mr. Ravenel said he thinks industry conditions may finally be right for the technology. After years of false starts, digital set-top boxes, necessary for delivering interactive services to the home, are on track to be deployed broadly beginning next year, he said. Cable companies, meantime, are continuing to upgrade their old cable plant quickly to handle an array of so-called two-way services, including phone service, high-speed data connections and, eventually, interactive services. "The technology is all but upon us," Mr. Ravenel said. TCI customers could be among the first recipients of interactive services. If all goes as planned, Liberty will use compression technology to convert six megahertz of bandwidth on TCI's systems, the equivalent of one analog channel, into 12 to 15 digital channels. The new digital channels would then be used to zap all sorts of interactive services to TCI customers. Mr. Masters, who will join Liberty Jan. 1, said he hopes to "come up with a whole array of mouth-watering content" that Liberty eventually can deliver to viewers across the U.S. He said Liberty's interactive unit will be open to business opportunities including possible acquisitions, partnerships and other creative collaborations.