by José Alvear
July 23, 2001
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When called for comment, Ampex said it wouldn’t talk further about the closure. A company representative didn’t say what would happen to existing content or its syndication deals with the likes of Yahoo!.
Ampex said it was immediately closing its iNEXTV's operations in New York City and will terminate the development of Internet video technology in Redwood City, California. It will also discontinue making investments in its partially-owned affiliates, AENTV in Los Angeles and TV1.de in Munich, Germany.
Ampex will write off investments in those entities completely, saying it will record a second quarter charge of approximately $4.6 million to write down goodwill and other assets and to record a charge of approximately $5.5 million to reflect other costs of closure, principally real estate leases.
In a statement, Ampex said it attributed the decision to the difficulty in obtaining additional funding for iNEXTV (www.inextv.com) due to “adverse capital market conditions for Internet-based companies.”
The move comes as somewhat of a shock, considering its steadfast direction into the Internet video space. Just last week, it announced two new Web shows, “Simply Fit with Radu” and "The New You." Newscaster Tony Guida was also slated to premiere a show called “Legends of the Road.” It also made a deal with retired news personality Hugh Downs to premiere a Web-only show, as well as “Couch Confessions” a show that highlighted a fictionalized psychiatrist and patients.
In previous weeks, iNEXTV announced syndication deals with Yahoo! Broadcast as well as a few car sites.
Enterprise Video Company Also in Trouble
In other news, MSHOW.com (www.mshow.com) said it was filing for Chapter 11 reorganization, and will partner with Accutel Conferencing Systems Inc. The company said this move will strengthen MSHOW's financing and facilitate its overall restructuring.
According to the company, Accutel has been an MSHOW customer, and supplier, for a long time.
“It is one of the most entrepreneurial, profitable and best-run companies that we have been privileged to deal with over recent years,” said Bob Ogdon, founder and chairman. “As MSHOW moves into the next phase of its evolution, we are delighted to be associated with the critical operating strengths and technology savvy that Accutel.com brings to the table.”
The company spun the move as positive, saying it would make “better sense” to partner with Accutel.
In a statement, Joe Balaz, vice president and general manager of Accutel.com said: “MSHOW is already a global leader in interactive webcasting and dataconferencing, with proprietary technology that has proven itself to be superior to all other competitive service offerings in the marketplace," said Balaz. “At this critical point in MSHOW's history, and as the demand for interactive Web communications begins to explode, we are pleased to be able to lever our operating infrastructure to assist MSHOW in meeting its customer demand.''
Mshow has been in the streaming space for years, and the news that it was filing for bankruptcy protection is a blow for the emerging enterprise space. Mshow was founded in 1996, as a Web presentation and conferencing company but has had trouble gaining traction during this economic downturn.
Accutel (www.accutel.com) is a Canadian conferencing company and has alliances with companies like Bell Nexxia and Compunetix.
