Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: art slott who wrote (4266)	2/1/1999 11:12:00 AM
From: JackSkip	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4748

Hope we get to utilize Time Warner as a partner moving forward. 2/1/99 AT&T, Time Warner in Joint Venture for Phone Service (Update3) AT&T, Time Warner in Joint Venture for Phone Service (Update3) (Adds company comments in 5th paragraph. Updates share activity.) New York, Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- AT&T Corp., the largest U.S. long-distance phone company, said it formed a joint venture with No. 1 cable provider Time Warner Inc. to offer local telephone services over Time Warner's cable network in 33 states. AT&T will own 77.5 percent of the venture and pay Time Warner about $300 million for exclusive rights to offer phone services on its network. In three years the venture is expected to have $4 billion in sales and earn a profit, the companies said. The joint venture follows AT&T's agreement last July to buy No. 2 cable provider Tele-Communications Inc. for $61.6 billion to break into the residential local phone market. The Time Warner agreement will allow AT&T to reach to more than 40 percent of U.S. homes, up from about 33 percent with TCI and its affiliates, when the purchase is completed. ''The cable strategy is one where you need coverage,'' said Daniel Zito, an analyst at Legg Mason Wood Walker Inc., who rates AT&T ''outperform.'' ''This is a move in the right direction.'' AT&T and Time Warner said the venture will begin offering service in one or two cities by year's end. The venture will cause a ''very minimum'' dilution to AT&T's earnings, Chairman and Chief Executive C. Michael Armstrong, said on a conference call. AT&T shares rose 1 7/8 to 92 5/8 in midmorning trading. Time Warner rose 1 3/16 to 63 11/16. Exclusive Rights New York-based AT&T expects to enter more joint ventures to give it access to 60 percent of homes to compete nationwide against local phone companies. Armstrong had expected to reach agreements with as many as two cable companies by the end of last year. ''Time Warner is very important strategically,'' said Robert Wilkes, an analyst at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. ''This gets the two biggest cable companies on board.'' The joint venture gives AT&T exclusive rights to sell phone services over Time Warner's network for 20 years. AT&T said it will pay Time Warner $15 for each home reached by the network, or about $300 million. AT&T will also pay Time Warner $1.50 a month, increasing to $6 over six years, for each subscriber who signs up for the service. Time Warner's network reaches 20 million homes, with 12.6 million customers currently subscribing to the company's cable-TV services. The cable company will cover expenses of getting its network ready for phone services. The company expects about 85 percent of the upgrade to be completed by the end of this year and the remainder by the end of 2000. TCI President Leo Hindery will oversee the venture after AT&T's purchase of TCI is complete, expected later this quarter. AT&T and Time Warner said they expect to complete the joint venture agreement in the second half of 1999.

To: art slott who wrote (4266)	2/1/1999 12:09:00 PM
From: Skywatcher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4748

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- AT&T agreed Monday to offer local phone service over Time Warner's cable systems, yet another strike at the heart of regional Bell operators' monopoly. Under the long-awaited agreement, AT&T will own 77.5 percent of the cable-phone joint venture and Time Warner the rest. Ma Bell will pay the expenses for the venture as well as a large portion of the upgrading costs for Time Warner's cable lines, "expected to total about $300 million," the companies say. In addition, AT&T will cover the costs of equipping each household to receive the service as customers sign up,estimated at $300 to $500 per home. Within three years, the companies expect the venture to achieve positive cash flow and reap $4 billion in annual revenue. Nearly half of all homes Along with its pending takeover of No. 2 cable TV operator Tele-Communications Inc. (TCOMA), AT&T has agreements to offer local phone service with five affiliates of TCI. Combined with the systems of Time Warner, the No. 1 U.S. cable operator, AT&T would gain access to more than 40 percent of all U.S. homes within four to five years, the company said. The company doesn't plan to stop there, however. It's also in talks with other operators, including Comcast (CMCSK), to expand its access to homes via cable to cover more than half the country. Shares of AT&T (T) rose 2 5/8 to 93 3/8 while Time Warner (TWX) shares gained 1 1/4 to 63 3/4. TCI's stock rose 1 9/16 to 70 1/8. The local Bells, meanwhile, stumbled. Moving quickly Under CEO C. Michael Armstrong, AT&T is quickly broadening its business beyond its traditional long-distance phone service, whose profits have been eroding amid intensified competition. The goal: to become a one-stop provider of all of a customer's telecom needs: local and long distance, data, Internet, wireless and cable TV. "Today's announcement with Time Warner will significantly advance AT&T's ability to offer end-to-end 'any distance'communications services to American consumers and businesses," Armstrong said in a press release. A big obstacle has been the monopoly the local Bells hold over phone lines from the switching office to the home. AT&T has to pay large sums to the Bells each year to connect its long-distance callers. Its cable strategy, however, would give the company a way to bypass the Bells and eliminate or reduce connection fees. In the case of Time Warner's systems, AT&T would still pay fees to use its broadband cable lines, but at a much lower price than what the Bells charge. Initially, AT&T will pay a monthly fee of $1.50 per telephone subscriber, rising to $6 a month over a six-year period. Time Warner is upgrading its cable systems -- now with 12.6 million customers in 33 states -- to offer high-speed Internet access and other two-way broadband communication services. It expects the work to be 85 percent complete by the end of 1999 and finished by 2000. The two companies plan to offer services on a widespread basis starting next year. Plans for video telephony are also in the works. Obstacles remain Despite the agreement, AT&T and Time Warner still have to resolve some large technical and other issues. Cable-phone deals were much in vogue several years ago, but fell victim to various glitches, including huge expenses and lack of customer demand. Still, the cable-phone technology has vastly improved, analysts say, and the cost of upgrading systems has sharply declined. By spending nearly $60 billion for TCI, along with billions more to upgrade its cable properties, AT&T is showing that it's determined to make cable-phone telephony work. The question now, analysts say, is whether AT&T can get it to work soon. Some are skeptical that the company will be able to get cable telephone service up and running on schedule.The companies also haven't explained how the joint venture will treat high-speed Internet services. AT&T, after its acquisition of TCI, will control At Home (ATHM), a provider of cable Internet service, while Time Warner is funding a competitor, called Road Runner. chris

To: art slott who wrote (4266)	2/1/1999 9:30:00 PM
From: art slott	Respond to of 4748

Paul Allen knows the Holy Grail is through the set top. What he and his portfolio manager are forgetting imo is that the mso's don't want you to FF past the interactive advertising. broadcastingcable.com "The theory with TiVo and Replay is simply that the features of their products are features that ought to be, in our opinion, built into set-top boxes. The DCT-5000s and S-A Explorer 2000s have everything except that hard disk. What TiVo and Replay bring is the ability to essentially program your television. Personal TV. That's a feature that ought to be a part of what is sold by the cable company to consumers. The things that you can do with those boxes as a consumer are things that you shouldn't need a second box for. It should be a part of the set-top box. We have to be somewhat agnostic about it. I'd love to always pick the winner in a category and put all the money in the world into that one company, but sometimes you can't do that. I just had to treat it like a portfolio play and say, 'Let's do everything we can to give these guys an opportunity to be a success on their own.' If consumers glom onto it and buy these things by the millions, it'll find its way into the set-top box, I'm pretty sure."