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

To: Jay Lowe who wrote (3472)	12/20/1998 9:39:00 PM
From: lnkennedy	Respond to of 29970

Rukeyser's guest fri. nite was a specialist in entertainment/ communications, didn't catch her name. she was very pro-cable broadband IP. i interpret this as good for ATHM on mon. Additionally, M Meeker was in Barron's with her top picks which also ought to give ATHM a boost.http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB914023727750233000.htm good investing lnk

To: Jay Lowe who wrote (3472)	12/20/1998 10:10:00 PM
From: ahhaha	Respond to of 29970

Is this statement comprehensible?: Although @Home is best known for providing high-speed Internet access, its ultimate goal is digital television. "That's the long-term play," said Neufeld. "They want to control the set-top boxes--they're not as interested in cable modems on PCs." What does "control STBs" mean? What does "control cable modems" mean? How can digital television be a goal? That is, how is digital interactive television different from a PC? They're just boxes. No difference. How can ATHM be interested in cable modems? TCI and the customer are responsible for the local loop. ATHM has little to do with it, since the redundancy model ends at the headend. . This guy Neufeld is talking through his hat making sounds that seem intelligible but on examination, they're incoherent or inconsistent. Notice how the article's author segues into seemingly supporting comments from Moldow. This is poor and misleading writing. Even so, it does inadvertently reveal a truth about ATHM that is not to my liking. ATHM is a front for the cable companies though the company would like to imagine something else. This is underlined in the recent Jermoluk interview. He's a nice guy; a veritable yes-man to those who pull the strings. He deflects all criticism that might show the MSOs in a poor light. One such criticism is the vaporbuild of the SF Bay Area. Going like molasses. There are no more excuses. TCI is holding out trying to save installation monies in order to support more initiatives for 100*n new channels and other specious strategies. While TCI fiddles, the market is slipping away. About the only truly constructive activity going on is the Nederland build-out. It's easy to roll there because the fairness commission doesn't excessively interfere. In contrast, here ATHM has everything set up to really roll, but they aren't going anywhere as long as the TV-Malone legacy remains regardless of the outcome of the fairness commission here. TCI has its own agenda and given the near-total incompetence of Hindery and the mistaken commitment to non-interactive TV, ATHM will remain a no-show. It seems that the merger is most important in this way: to take control of a floundering operation and give it some juice. If T can't do that, it doesn't really matter whether the merger goes through or not. Jermoluk says they're trying to develop demand. The way to do that is to enable the service in the first place. You can tie on the bells and whistles once you have critical mass. To make a statement like that shows the guy is obfuscating. The demand out there is overwhelming. The problem is TCI. Whether TCI's strategy is interactive digital TV or PC ISP, they need to upgrade their plant at least to HFC. It's another reason to distrust TCI motives and to realize their main focus is digital couch potato TV without the interactive. This is the vision of this government protected monopoly. Makes you real bullish, doesn't it?