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Alan Breznick
Seeking to bolster its lineup of Web and home shopping features, WorldGate Communications Inc. has signed up 11 content providers for its Internet/interactive TV service over cable lines.
WorldGate, which closed the third quarter with 11,400 subscribers on a dozen cable systems, said last week it's adding content partners that offer video games, online chat, instant messaging, photo e-mail, online calendars, employment search and electronic commerce. The list of firms includes Telepix, SyNet Communications, Epsylon Technologies, eShare Technologies, Bill's Games, KwikWeb. com and Headhunter.net.
WorldGate also enlisted Gist. com to provide its Internet-based TV programming guide to the growing pool of Web-over-TV customers. WorldGate also penned a deal with DoubleClick to monitor and target its fledgling advertising efforts.
A would-be rival to Microsoft Corp.'s WebTV Networks, WorldGate is making the content push to spur its sluggish growth. Although the company expects another 19 cable systems to launch its service soon, it admitted in its third-quarter earnings report that "actual subscriber growth continues to be slower than expected."
The company's earnings report said it anticipates that "fourth quarter subscriber growth could be below expectations." It placed the blame on delayed equipment shipments by third-party vendors and slower than expected plant and headend upgrades by cable operators.
WorldGate said it doesn't believe these delays will have a long-term impact on its business. The company reported a net loss of $9.5 million on $1.6 million in revenues for the July-to-September period, compared with a loss of $7.5 million, on $369,000 in revenue a year earlier.
The content drive also comes as WorldGate unveils fresh research data showing that its subscribers are using the Web-over-TV service at least as heavily as computer Web surfers. In the latest report, the ongoing study conducted with Nielsen Media Research on a cable system in Massillon, Ohio, found that WorldGate customers are averaging about an hour a day on the service.
WorldGate reported that about 79% of its customers in the Ohio study are using their "channel hyperlinking" service each month to link immediately to online content related to the TV shows they're watching.
* Telepix
* SyNet Communications
* Epsylon Technologies
* eShare Technologies
* Bill's Games
* KwikWeb.com and Headhunter.net.
* gist.com
* DoubleClick
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