New set-top box, partners highlight WebTV's campaign

By VARIETY STAFF

WebTV Networks, the company that turns regular televisions into Internet-viewing machines, next week will formally announce new products, prices and strategic partnerships --- including a new set-top box --- as part of an effort to steer the company further toward its stated goal of seamlessly integrating television-watching and Web-surfing.

Strong partner

"WebTV aspires to be a strong partner with network television in the mission to reignite excitement around the TV screen," said Stacy Jolna, vice president of programming for Palo Alto-based WebTV. "WebTV is about combining the broad entertainment values of TV with the deep content Internet, on the television screen."

WebTV Plus, the enhanced set-top box, will differ from the original model primarily by the addition of a picture-in-picture feature, enabling simultaneous viewing of television programming and Internet Web pages. The new Plus unit will also sport a 1 gigabyte hard disk drive, giving WebTV users the computer-style ability to download and store Web-based information for later offline viewing.

The original WebTV set-top box, which sells for approximately $249, had no hard drive. The company will continue to sell the original model.

Currently, WebTV customers also pay $19.95 for Internet access, a price similar to other Internet service providers. A company spokesman did not say what the new unit and services will cost, allowing only that it will unveil an "aggressive" pricing schedule.

Each themed area will be fed primarily by a "keystone content partner." Some of the current partners are Discovery Channel, TV Guide, E! Entertainment's E! Online, MSNBC, Yahoo, Excite, PBS and N2K.

They'll also announce revenue-splitting tie-ins with partners to sell merchandise over the system, including N2K's Music Boulevard, Barnes and Noble, Golf Web, the Nature Co., Classified 2000 and TV Flowers and Gifts (known on the Internet as PC Flowers and Gifts.

Personal computer software giant Microsoft Corp. purchased WebTV several months ago.