There were a string of “likkle” industry news items this week for
, but none of them merited a full story, so we have donned our Cowboy boots and rounded them up for you to chew in a *new and improved* bite-sized form:
NBC FORMS NBC INTERNET
CNET and XOOM.com announced that NBC will merge several of its Internet assets with XOOM.com and Snap.com to form the seventh-largest Internet site. The new company, to be called NBC Internet (NBCi), will be NBC’s exclusive general portal/community/e-commerce Internet commitment. The new company will use Snap as its umbrella consumer brand, integrating broadcast, portal, and e-commerce for more than 18 million unique users per month. NBCi will offer NBC content, including full motion video programming through its
VideoSeeker.com http://www.videoseeker.com service.
MICROSOFT GOES HOME
Microsoft Corp. will partner with At Home Corp. to help small and medium-sized cable companies provide high-speed Internet connections to customers. Microsoft will become a strategic technology partner in At Home Solutions, a private venture that uses At Home’s nationwide network. Microsoft will contribute its Window NT Server operating system and support and resources to assist in marketing the service, the companies said. Sources close to the deal said Microsoft’s investment was worth $5 million, The Wall Street Journal reported. At Home
estimates 15 million homes and businesses are served by smaller, local cable companies.
FLEXTECH GETS INTERACTIVE
Flextech Interactive (FI), the new media and digital interactive services division of Flextech Television, has announced that AA Insurance, Bass, Peugeot, Vauxhall, Orange, Barclaycard, Honda, Tesco and Goldfish are to take part in interactive advertising trials in the UK using Microsoft’s WebTV.
FI is using Bravo and Trouble as the first Flextech channels to sample synchronised interactivity during a commercial break.
Icons on screen indicate that additional information is available and on pressing the “go” button, viewers are taken to the web address as pre-decided by the advertiser.
FI is using these trials as a means of testing how viewers will respond to interactivity as they browse the web on their TV. The trials will hopefully provide FI and its advertising clients with a valuable insight into consumer attitudes and expectations to interactive advertising, prior to launch of digital interactive services later this year.
EDGECASTING
InfoLibria has announced a solution for delivering TV- and CD-quality audio and video content in any streaming format in what it calls “Edgecasting”. Already Apple’s Quicktime 4, Cisco’s IP/TV and Microsoft’s Windows Media Technology are integrated into InfoLibria’s multimedia platform.
Edgecasting is a delivery method that streams numerous formats using a single device, from the most local network junctures (POPs), close to users.
AOL ANYWHERE
America Online has announced several partnerships to further its plan to provide Internet access and other services to TV sets in U.S. homes. The AOL service, which the company said it will begin offering next year, will allow users to watch regular television while using
applications for e-mail and electronic commerce, among others.
The alliances are part of AOL’s long-term strategy dubbed “AOL Anywhere.” The strategy would allow AOL to provide online services via various electronic devices including cell phones with display screens. DirecTV, a satellite television company, will partner with AOL to establish a TV programming service. Hughes Network Systems is set to provide the set-top receiver, while Philips Electronics
will develop the set-top box. Network Computer has signed on to provide the system’s software. Terms of the agreements have not been revealed.
