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To: Michael Olds who wrote (5918)	3/1/1999 4:02:00 PM
From: df	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17679

Monday, March 01, 1999 2HRS2GO: ACTV looks to cash in on convergence By Sergio G. Non March 1, 1999 1:45pm ZDII Remember interactive television? Don't worry, neither does anyone else. But with cable companies pushing hard to blend the Web with digital television, it might just happen after all, and the market seems to think a small New York outfit called ACTV Inc. (Nasdaq: IATV) might just be the one to make it happen. More than 2.2 million shares of ACTV moved Friday, an enormous amount for an over-the-counter stock. Interest continued today, with ACTV (intraday, 3-month, 6-month) at 8 on volume of more than 1.4 million shares. That kind of movement prompted at least one brokerage firm, Neidiger, Tucker, Bruner Inc., to raise its price target on the stock to $15 a share. And it certainly pleases investors like Tudor Investment and John Malone's cable programming unit, Liberty Media. Is there a bright future for Webified TV? Add your comments to the bottom of this page. A few years ago, ACTV's main thrust was "individualized television" -- you know, things like letting sports viewers call up stats on demand, or change the camera angle. ACTV still talks about it, even has a deals to launch versions of it for Liberty and FoxSports. But the bigger future lies with ACTV's HyperTV technology, which links live TV broadcasts with websites. Company executives aren't shy about piggybacking on the Web craze -- ACTV today added to the Himalaya-sized heap of breathless Web hype with a news release proclaiming HyperTV as a Cornerstone of Business Strategy (caps theirs) and a "vastly improved" viewing experience: "For example, a HyperTV user watching a rock concert can be 'pushed' a stream of Web addresses, in synch with the video ... During a commercial break in the program, an advertisement for a new car can be enhanced by simultaneously delivering information from the company's Web site..." Leaving aside the question ("Why don't I have a life?") that should be asked by people who actually visit websites while a rock concert is going on, the company's software has proven good enough to be incorporated in digital set-top boxes made by Scientific-Atlanta Inc. (NYSE: SFA) and General Instrument Corp. (NYSE: GIC). That gives ACTV full penetration since those two companies currently command the entire market. HyperTV was actually codeveloped with EarthWeb Inc., but the latter was bought out by ACTV. Neidiger, Tucker analyst Michael Shonstrom likes to compare the two companies. "We're talking about a market cap for ACTV that's beginning to approach EarthWeb, and I think the market opportunity for ACTV is significantly greater," Shonstrom says. ACTV's current revenue is small -- just $1 million for the first nine months of last year, mostly coming from the education market, where ACTV sells a product that combines the Web with teaching videos. And don't expect much in the way of profits this year, either. "If we're talking $4 million to $5 million, that's a lot," Shonstrom says. "1999 is a toe-in-the-water year. It's a year 2000 buildout story." Anyone who buys into Internet plays should be used to that by now. But ACTV doesn't have a lot of competition at the moment, and its technology is widespread within its industry. Not many can say that.