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- Microsoft-AT&T deal reported to now cover 7.5M to 10M set-top boxes (5-6-99) (Standard & Poor's)
- Microsoft to provide Ma Bell's Windows to the world in as many as 10M living rooms via set-tops (5-6-99) (MSNBC)
- CNN interview of AT&T CEO Michael Armstrong (5-6-99) (CNNfn)
AT&T CEO Michael Armstrong said, "We want to go faster in the deployment of set-top boxes. We want to bring the digital services sooner to America. And in accelerating that roll-out, we've taken our commitment to the Windows layer of that roll-out from the 5 million to the 7 to 7 1/2 million. But that is not exclusive. We still have a multi-vendor environment and we still are partners with Sun and Java." - Money Talks: Microsoft uses market clout and financial muscle (5-6-99) (CNET)
- Why Microsoft shareholders should cheer AT&T deal: Microsoft will enter millions more homes via set-top boxes and find new ways to make money (5-7-99) (BusinessWeek)
- AT& T and Microsoft: Interactive TV goes big time (5-7-99) (Mercury)
- AT&T's great digital experiment with Microsoft playing a key role (5-7-99) (Newsday)
- An "Anti-Microsoft" news item: Alternative "Windows" of opportunity with different operating systems rival Microsoft (5-7-99) (Newsday)
Newsday reports, "Turkish TV conglomerate Vestel [is] not only shunning Windows but taking on other Microsoft products. Bob Marcantonio, vice president of Levin Consulting in Beachwood, Ohio, said client Vestel is developing set-top boxes for the consumer market that will give Microsoft's WebTV a run for its money. A fast-evolving market for digital set-top boxes could easily spin out of Microsoft's control..." - Microsoft eyes TV future with AT&T deal to put WinCE in 5 million AT&T cable set-top boxes (5-6-99) (CNNfn)
- Ma Bell seals deal with Microsoft for $5B investment in AT&T (5-6-99) (CNNfn)
- Microsoft and AT&T seal $5B partnership deal (5-6-99) (InternetNews)
- Microsoft takes $5B stake in Ma Bell as part of far-reaching alliance (5-6-99) (PC Week)
- Microsoft buys $5B AT&T stake (5-6-99) (PC World)
- Microsoft and AT&T in $5B pact (5-6-99) (CNET)
- Larry Magil: Ma Bell, meet Pa Bill (5-7-99) (Upside Today)
- Can spending on Ma Bell cable turn Microsoft into Pa Bill (7-5-99) (The Register)
- Microsoft to invest $5B in AT&T in exchange for putting Microsoft software in AT&T cable set-top boxes (5-6-99) (Variety)
- Microsoft to buy $5B AT&T stake (5-6-99) (Industry Standard)
- AT&T and Microsoft to have TV set-top alliance (5-5-99) (MSNBC)
- Microsoft sees AT&T cable holdings in TV set-top software future (5-5-99) (CNET)
- Digital TV price war looms with BSkyB giveaway (5-5-99) (BBC)
- BSkyB giving away digital set-top boxes, cheap phone access, and free internet access to U.K. satellite dish subscribers (5-5-99) (CBS MarketWatch)
- BSkyB to provide free "Skynow" internet access beginning June 1 (5-5-99) (CBS MarketWatch)
"Free" and "cheap" (although the consumer may still have to pay one way or another) is perhaps the way to quickly build the necessary critical mass for widespread distribution of Internet on TV and Interactive TV services and to create the required audiences for future profitability of e-commerce via television. If you want to capture market presence now, you can either go with (or build) an "established" product or go with a "free" or "cheap" giveaway. Rupert Murdoch can do both with his BSkyB and the "free" boxes to try to capture a lion's share of the digital market. - Related: Finally free local calls for internet access in Europe (5-6-99) (TechWeb)
- More Free Stuff: "You can have it all for Free" (5-3-99) (Virginian-Pilot Ledger-Post)
PowerChannel is expected to provide its FreePCTV set-top box service late this month. PowerChannel senior vp of data management Gary Blau said, "Our goal is not to oversaturate our customers with advertising.... Between 25 and 30 million (U.S.) households are connected to the Internet. That means 75 million households are not." - Convergence on the Production side: AOL hires Universal TV and MCA-TV president Robert Harris to head AOL broadband content (5-7-99) (InternetNews)
- ClearWorks set-top boxes to capture new homeowners (5-6-99) (Business Wire)
ClearWorks wants to put its set-top boxes in new houses in new residential communities for immediate capture of new homeowners. ClearWorks CEO Michael T. McClere said, "It's important that we're able to deliver extended functionality to our customers, which is key to the expanded level of services we contemplate. With our set-top boxes we can deliver HDTV, video game rentals, video-on-demand and high-speed Internet access, all integrated into a single device.... Every one of our homeowners will have one of our set-top boxes at move-in. Our box is truly unique, combining the essential elements of a personal computer with those of a traditional set-top box. In other words, what we've done is to integrate the world of cable TV with that of personal computers." - BeOS looking at being OS for set-top boxes and info appliances (5-6-99) (CNET)
- National Semiconductors switching from PCs to set-tops and info appliances (5-5-99) (CNET)
- MSU to add 20 engineers for SlipStream set-top box development (5-5-99) (Business Wire)
"The set-top market is projected to grow from about $200 million this year to $10 billion worldwide by 2000 (source: In-Stat, Scottsdale, Ariz.)." - WorldGate announces first quarter results since going public (5-5-99) (PRNewswire)
- WorldGate signs up Bresnan Communications for multi-year affiliation deal (5-5-99) (PRNewswire)
- Scientific-Atlanta's Dr. Bill Wall honored for interactive TV work (5-4-99) (PRNewswire)
- Scientific-Atlanta announces 3Q launch plans for DCT-5000+ set-top boxes (5-4-99) (PRNewswire)
- HBO HDTV service available for Time Warner's Tampa cable service (5-4-99) (PRNewswire)
- E-box from Ericsson to be beachhead in homes for e-services network (5-3-99) (MSNBC)
- Ericsson review information on E-box (Ericsson)
- Ericsson's E-box system: an electronic services enabler (Ericsson)
- Ruel's Spotlight Website: Open Service Gateway Initiative for e-services (5-5-99)
- SpeedChoice announces digital "Build Your 0wn Basics" TV and Music service (5-3-99) (PRNewswire)
- New WebSurfer Pro said to leave WebTV in wake (5-2-99) (Mercury Center)
(alternate link) (alternate link)
This article is about the new WebSurfer Pro although referred to only as "WebSurfer" in the article. - Early May 1st digital TV deadline for network affiliates in top ten U.S. cities (4-30-99) (CNET)
- Big Entertainment and Steeplechase Media announce Interactive TV ecommerce alliance (4-29-99) (PRNewswire)
- TV Informercial company E4L gets Ecommerce religion (4-29-99) (Industry Standard)
- Television Informercial company E4L Inc. does Ecommerce (4-28-99) (MSNBC)
- Smart Digital Television Networks launches shopping portal for aliens and humans alike (4-27-99) (PRNewswire)
Various companies, such as BigE, Steeplechase, E4L, and Smart Digital Television Networks, are positioning themselves for mainstream non-techie electronic commerce over Interactive TV and Internet via TV. Also see the below news items about the News Corp. e-partners and the New York Telemedia Accelerator. - News Corp. forms company to fund Internet activities and to develop Interactive TV (4-28-99) (InfoBeat Internet Daily)
InfoBeat reports that News Corp. formed a separate company named e-partners to fund Internet activities and to develop Interactive TV. InfoBeat reports News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch as stating, "We see enormous opportunity for playing an even greater role in the new media industry." InfoBeat reports e-partners will be run by BSkyB CEO Mark Booth who reportedly declined a previous $25M offer to join Microsoft. - STMicroelectronics and SCM Microsystems to develop and produce DVB common interface chips for digtial TV and set-tops (4-28-99) (Semiconductor Business News) (alternate link)
- WebTV users spend more time and money online; TV Online survey shows trends (4-27-99) (PRNewswire)
- Looking to Women at convergence center (4-27-99) (CNET)
- Hollywood meets Silicon at Entertech inaugural conference (4-27-99) (WIRED)
- Entertech day 2 highlights (4-27-99) (PRNewswire)
- NBC's Tonight Show is supposed to be Must-See HDTV (4-27-99) (WIRED)
- Scientific-Atlanta and PowerTV to offer email application to MSO's for deployment over Scientific-Atlanta's digital interactive network on Explorer 2000 set-tops (4-27-99) (PRNewswire)
- WebNet TV begans marketing Internet TV box in New Zealand (4-27-99) (The Press)
The WebNet TV box, called the "Internet TV," is a telephone-based set-top box with a built-in 33.6Kbps modem, an ARM 32-bit RISC processor, and a parrallel printer port. The box is about the size of a small VCR and comes with a cordless keyboard and a remote control. - Scientific-Atlanta developers' showcase will spotlight Interactive TV applications (4-27-99) (PRNewswire)
- Designing for WebTV (4-26-99) (WebTools)
- Local TV stations figuring out the web; TV webmasters trying to do it all (4-26-99) (InternetWorld)
- DirecTV invests in TiVo (4-27-99) (CNET)
- DirecTV makes major investment in TiVo (4-27-99) (DirecTV) (alternate link)
- ReplayTV begins shipments (4-26-99) (Business Wire) Forrester Research predicts some 14 million Americans will use personal television by Y2004 and that "personal television" will forever change television. Forrester Research also predicts 10 years from now, "personal TV" will penetrate four out of five U.S. homes thus making it one of the fastest-growing consumer electronics categories in history.
- ABC to use Virage to catalog TV video for the web search (4-28-99) (WIRED)
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Let's get Digital: Five Rivers Electronics Innovations digital TV sets moves new technology down the line (4-29-99) (Knoxville News-Sentinel)
The Knoxville News-Sentinel cites Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association spokesman Jim Barry as indicating, "Last year, 27 million TV sets were sold in the United States, putting to rest industry fears that consumers would hold off buying bigger and better analog sets while waiting for digital television to become a reality." The Knoxville News-Sentinel further reports, "By comparison, Americans have bought just 25,000 digital sets [in 1998] -- ranging in price from about $3,000 to upwards of $10,000. CEMA forecasts 'early adopters' will buy 150,000 digital TVs this year. If that prediction proves true, those early adopters are likely to live in one of 10 large cities ... where broadcasters are required to begin transmitting digital signals [May 1, 1999]." The Knoxville News-Sentinel also reports that a recent CEMA focus group showed consumers want interactive TV options and cites CEMA spokesman Jim Barry as stating, "It's a computer. It's a television. It's an information device. This is a new medium." - RCA to ship WebTV television sets (4-26-99) (ZDNN)
- Production begins for new DISHPlayer boxes for EchoStar-WebTV service (4-26-99) (PRNewswire)
- WebTV & EchoStar to launch WebTV-capable satellite service next month (4-26-99) (CNET)
- Landel Telecom provides Mailbug box for email-only service (4-26-99) (PC World)
- Wink signs agreement with ABC to enable broadcast of Enhanced Television (4-26-99) (PRNewswire)
- @Home fuels explosive growth in rich media advertising (4-26-99) (PRNewswire)
- New York Telemedia Accelerator to be funded by venture capital (4-23-99) (@NY)
@NY reports the New York City Investment Fund, Bear Stearns Constellation Ventures, and the Psilos Group will be providing at least $5M to fund the "New York Telemedia Accelerator" to help start-up companies entering the broadband and digital TV arena. @NY also reports the Borough of Manhattan Community College will be providing office space on the 14th floor of the college's Fiterman Hall on West Broadway plus faculty support and student interns (the college gets 5% equity in return). @NY cites NYCIF chairman and founder Henry Kravis as stating, "New media has been the single most important source of business formation activity in New York over the past three years, but sustained growth of this industry is threatened by a tight real estate market and the high costs of building a business in New York. With the Telemedia Accelerator, we hope to help address these problems and, by doing so, capture for New York the significant economic benefits and jobs associated with this industry."
There is an apparent fear that the new digital television media may shift the center of the American television industry from New York City to elsewhere in the United States.
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