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Technology Stocks : IATV-ACTV Digital Convergence Software-HyperTV -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ed doell who wrote (998)	3/31/1999 8:23:00 PM
From: anthony karpati	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 13157

NEWS - Under TV Guide (TVGIA), which was also up sharply today: Wednesday March 31 8:08 PM ET News Corp Sees TV Guide As Online On-Ramp By Brendan Intindola NEW YORK (Reuters) - News Corp intends to deploy its TV Guide Interactive as its springboard to a larger presence on the Internet, according to Peter Chernin, president and chief operating officer of the global media company. TV Guide is expected to become increasingly pervasive as the cable and satellite companies carrying it offer a vastly greater number of channels and Internet connections. ''The TV Guide Interactive business ... we ultimately view as our portal play,'' Chernin said, using the computer industry term for Internet guides like Yahoo! Inc., Lycos Inc. (Nasdaq:LCOS - news) and Walt Disney Co.'s aGO Network, ''We think it has the potential to be a far more significant portal than anyone else is talking about,'' Chernin said in an interview with Reuters Wednesday. Chernin said TV Guide is expected to be a powerful entrance point for Internet users because of what he predicts will be the strong attraction of television and personal computers converging. ''If you assume that there is some convergence of televisions and computers, I don't think of any scenario where the television doesn't dominate.'' Chernin said. ''People are always going to watch far more hours of television and if you have the dominant guidance company on that platform, I think it is potentially far more valuable than anything that exists in the pure-computer space.'' PaineWebber media analyst Christopher Dixon said that for News Corp., ''The TV navigation system is highly positive. There is no question that TV Guide's distinctive platform is the dominant interactive guide today. ''It is all very positive. I look at News Corp two ways. We see growth developing in the Internet and internationally'' with the company representing a way to invest in World Wide Web pervasion and the thirst around the world for American-style entertainment. Chernin said a longer-term Internet strategy ''was the architecture behind the TV Guide-United Video merger. We already have more digital interactive subscribers than any other company, and we have a commitment ... from TCI for another 10 million subs as they start rolling out their digital (television set-top) boxes,'' he added. TCI is Tele-Communications Inc. (Nasdaq:TCOMP - news), the cable television giant recently acquired by AT&T Corp (NYSE:T - news) for $55 billion. United Video Satellite Group Inc. and News Corp. recently completed a merger marrying TV Guide's widely recognized brand name with United Video's Prevue Channel, a scrolling listing service, among their other services. Under the agreement, News Corp. received about $800 million in cash and 60 million shares of United Video stock. The company's major shareholders are now News Corp. and Liberty Media Group, each with a 49 percent voting interest and a 44 percent economic interest. Public shareholders hold about 12 percent of the Tulsa, Okla.-based United Video, which changed its name to TV Guide Inc. (Nasdaq:TVGIA - news) when the deal closed. In early March, TV Guide Inc. said it signed a 10-year contract to provide TV Guide Interactive to TCI. At the time of the announcement, TV Guide Interactive was available in 110 cities, reaching 34 million homes. The print version of TV Guide, acquired by News Corp. in 1988, is America's largest-selling weekly magazine with a circulation of 11.8 million and about 35 million readers. Chernin, second in command to News Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch, said he expects a growing role in the Internet for traditional media companies. In addition to the TV Guide stake, News Corp. owns dozens of newspapers around the world, 81 percent of FOX Entertainment Group Inc., the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, and HarperCollins Publishers, among other media and entertainment assets. ''There is no better machine in the history of the planet that is better at winning customers than the kinds of media assets that we own,'' he said, citing strong brand names and access to customers as the pillars supporting Internet growth. ''I don't think any of us need to panic and get in there (the Internet) immediately. There are no barriers to entry. We probably hit as many consumers in America if not the world as any media company out there, and I think it is trying not to get to far ahead of yourself. The big challenge for all of us is ultimately to design things that are marketplace, as opposed to technology, driven.'' Regarding News Corp.'s recent marketing agreement with Yahoo!, the most popular site on the Internet, Chernin said, ''We don't see Yahoo as being our fundamental Internet solution. This is a marketing partnership.'' The Yahoo deal, announced in January, ''... has them pushing our content more aggressively ... has them buying bulk advertising on various services of ours ... (and) there are some cross promotional opportunities. ''That is a pretty god indication of why I ultimately think media companies are going to be so dominant in the Internet because...Yahoo, arguably the second most important company in the Internet space right now after AOL, ultimately -- when it came to reaching customers -- they had to come to us and buy traditional media -- a Super Bowl (advertisement) spot.