BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : MAY 29, 2000 ISSUE
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Eyeballing AOLTV's Rivals Here's a rundown of how America Online stacks up against its major competitors in interactive television: AT&T The phone giant is AOL's most potent rival in interactive TV. After agreeing to spend $110 billion for cable properties, AT&T is becoming the largest cable company in the U.S.--with access to 25 million homes. It plans to launch AT&T Interactive TV service in its first market by yearend. MICROSOFT The software giant has had limited success in interactive TV. Its WebTV service has little more than 1 million subscribers in four years. The company may have better luck selling software for set-top boxes to cable companies, including AT&T. With billions to spend, the software juggernaut could still become a force. CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS This dark horse backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is both innovative and aggressive. It launched interactive TV last year, signing up a little over 25,000 of its 6.2 million cable subscribers. The key: It is using analog set-top boxes that subscribers already have--so they don't have to buy new equipment. More advanced digital boxes will roll out in test markets late this year. COX ENTERPRISES The tech-savvy cable operator will be a strong competitor in its territory in the South. Cox, the sixth-biggest cable player in the U.S., will launch an interactive-TV trial this summer on cable set-top boxes fitted with software from Liberate Technologies. AT&T's Excite@Home, in which Cox has a major investment, will design the service. COMCAST CORP. The fourth-biggest cable company could end up cooperating, rather than competing, with AOL. Despite a $1 billion investment from Microsoft, Comcast decided to buy software for its set-top boxes from Microsoft rival Liberate. That gives Comcast the same technological foundation as AOL--so the pair could team up to market interactive TV. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS Interactive TV: Turn On, Tune In, Interact TABLE: You've Got Interactive TV TABLE: Eyeballing AOLTV's Rivals INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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