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Technology Stocks : Concurrent Computer (CCUR) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jeffbas who wrote (7382)	3/6/1999 1:12:00 PM
From: Hank 191	Respond to of 21143

Last night at dinner, a friend of mine told me about how he received a call about an offer for a STB from Comcast. He went down to look into it but passed on it. This morning I went down to Comcast. I was told that the STB costs $9.95/mo. per TV. I would get more channels. If I wanted HBO, I could pay for it ($14.95/mo.) then have access to about 8 HBO channels through the STB. BTW, Comcast in New Jersey has a display using a GIC STB. I also passed on it. I'm no tech expert but from a marketing perspective, I think the MSOs have it backwards and that could be why STB movement is slow. I don't see the value in getting an STB just for more channels. BUT I would get one to get VOD. The strategy to wait for some critical mass before giving the customer what he/she wants does not make sense to me. I would think that VOD could be used as a demand driver for the STB. For $9.95, I would get more channels PLUS VOD. That makes sense. Of course, that opens up another set of problems like revenue loss from Pay-Per-View. Maybe that's why the critical mass thing. I'm long CCUR and I don't mind the wait. After all, we were up around 50% last year and are up 23% this year even at 4 5/16. With all this accumulation and a P/E over 200, something's going on. Does anyone know of a system where VOD was offered as an inducement to get the STB placed? I realize that someone a lot smarter than I thought about this before. There must be a good reason why they are doing it this way. I just know that VOD would get me to get an STB not more channels. Hank

To: jeffbas who wrote (7382)	3/6/1999 1:31:00 PM
From: Christiaan McDonald	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21143

Jeff, I've said all along, for many months now, that Time Warner would not be the leader in VOD. Why did I say that? Because TW has a long standing rep of "talk, talk, talk" and do "nothing, nothing, nothing". Nothing, that is, except raise your monthly cable rate. Marcus will be the leader in VOD. CCUR does not need TWX sales to get the business going. Jeff, if CCUR only gets 5 to 10 million of sales that is going to help a lot with the bottom line. As far as buying cheaper? That's always a good bet with CCUR, the way it trades. I have always tried to buy at the lower end of the trading range. Then, if the market pulls it down, like the Asia thing pulled it back to 1 3/4, then buy, buy, buy. If you get an overload and are not comfortable then sell some at the upper end of the trading range. Jeff, I watch the fundamentals, not the market. If the fundamentals stay positive I know I am going to make money, but the market will tell me WHEN I am going to make it. I don't worry much about the WHEN as long as I can make money I can wait awhile. So far with CCUR it has been a profitable wait. But there is never a guarantee. Ken