(OFEX Listed). Warning not for widows and orphans.

Market Cap Circa 650,000, SP 10.25p.

Ashpool Telecolm as been a dog of a stock since the days of the Dot Com Era, but just lately that as all changed and the company as prudently with sound management backing, broken into profit for the year. Its biggest attraction is its VOIP Software Business, but this company is certainly not a one trick pony and boasts a big percentage share in Command TV(23.75%) which can boast shows like the X FACTOR and QUIZMANIA now showing on ITV every evening.

I would have brought this stock to the boards attention a month earlier but a stock overhang was holding the stock SP back. Today that overhang as cleared and it now creates an opportunity to buy into what I beleive will be an excelent growth story (the stock looks way undervalued and as no debt) with the added benefits of a strong Ofex market with far more liquidity due to more Market Makers.

Please Dyor. Here is the link with the OFEX board.

http://www.ofex.com/index.shtml

cheers GF.

Time to board the Ofex Express

Says Luke Heron of WatsHot.com

It is an irony in itself, but the downside of which I don't resent. For a good many years, my name was synonymous with the OFEX market, a fact that did not do me any favours as the market hardly covered itself in glory. However, it was and remains my belief that the concept of a three-tier market in the UK is the only way forward. Historically, my support for what was at the time, a widely discredited, joke, matched bargain facility was rather similar to my own reputation. Those who spoke out in favour of OFEX won few friends. The reality now is vastly different. When Simon Brickles joined Plus Markets Group, the AIM traded owner of OFEX, he brought with him a new credibility, coupled with a determination to create a realistic alternative to AIM. Forget all that you have heard about OFEX not wanting to compete with AIM, that is hogwash. Inside of two years, it is my believe that what is now OFEX (though will most likely be called Plus) will have more constituents than AIM.

For those that wonder how an argument can be made for a three-tier market and at the same time claim that OFEX wants to compete with AIM; let me explain. The concept of a three-tier market is perfect. A low-level entry for established, but smaller, high growth companies - this entry-level market also includes junior resource stocks and other start-up businesses. Ideally, these companies will have a market capitalisation of sub 10 million pounds. The second-tier will be still be smaller and mid-sized enterprises, but have established a period of trading, profitability, institutional support and perhaps other criteria, which separate them from the entry-level companies. The top tier, currently the main market fully listed giants, the majority of whom have their shares traded via auction, or SETS (Stock Exchange electronic trading service), make up the third and final instalment of the UK list.

Originally SETS was intended just for FTSE 100 companies, but that soon changed. I headed up the desk that handled the average pricing system for large FTSE trades at the time of launch at Merrill Lynch. It was a complete disaster - not through my own doing I hasten to add. Since then, it has improved dramatically and the electronic order book that executes hundreds of trades a second has now been rolled out onto AIM. This is where the threat is for traditional market makers. With around 50 stocks now covered on AIM, the likes of Winterfloods, Teather & Greenwood, Shore Capital etc etc, are slowly but surely, having their playground taken away from them. Make no mistake, the market makers are still dominant in well over 1,000 AIM traded equities and even some fully listed companies, but there will come a time when this is not so.

It is little surprise that the automatic order-driven trading service is so successful. SETS is flexible and transparent, ensuring that every buy or sell order receives maximum exposure, resulting in a seamless and cost-effective execution - this is more than can be said for AIM itself. Order book trades in UK and Irish securities are covered by a central counterparty operated by the London Clearing House. No person-to-person broker-to-market maker contact, just buys matched against sells. The irony here is that this is precisely the way the most junior of the three-tier markets, OFEX, started out. Indeed, it is perhaps the most remarkable feature in the evolution of the financial markets, that will eventually see matched bargains for the upper tier and a market maker based facility for smaller companies. A complete reversal. The demographics of the UK markets have literally been turned on their heads in the space of just 8 years.

You may question the need to hear all of this and I apologise if this is already familiar to you - it is not my intention to patronise, however the transition at OFEX itself has been remarkable. The reason that so many brokers and market makers supported the circa 3 million fundraising by Plus Markets in September was itself a recognition that OFEX is the future for smaller companies.

There was a time when even to utter the words credibility, efficient, cost effective alongside the OFEX market, would conjure up looks of disgust. But now, the OFEX market is one which represents an almost identical regulatory structure in the terms of the protections it offers to investors, as AIM. In fact, you (as a private investor) will have no less protections offered to you as you would on AIM and shortly, the tax advantages, including SIPP eligibility, will make it even more attractive. Furthermore, with 4 market makers, 3 currently on stream and a further market maker set to go live in the next couple of months; the ease at which it is possible to buy and sell is no different to companies of a comparable market capitalisation on AIM. In fact, it is far better on OFEX than it is on AIM in many cases. When the SETS system is rolled out, companies with too few shareholders or those with little liquidity, will find themselves in a real squeeze. Like them or loathe them, market makers for smaller companies, will always be here and you can take it for granted that on OFEX, they are there to stay.

The purpose of this article is, I admit, to try and persuade those with reservations about OFEX, to consider taking a leap of faith. In time, I simply do not believe that those who like AIM the way it is now, will able to transact the kind of deals they do now, anywhere other than OFEX. I will eat a very large slice of humble pie if, come the shell company deadline on AIM; a good few AIM listed companies do not make the step to OFEX. There is no where else for them to go.

It is not just shell companies though. AIM listed constituents with a market capitalisation of sub-10 million really have no place on AIM. The costs simply do not make it worth while in the majority of cases. There will come a time when, like dominoes, AIM traded constituents will take the decision to move. It only takes one. The first companies are inevitable, as soon as it starts, I seriously think that AIM will have trouble holding on to a vast quantity of its constituents. Excuses for maintaining a senior listing will fade, as more and more realise that in many cases it is nothing more than a vanity-fuelled exercise. Some claim that the reason they are listed there is because it is the only way they could get funding. This is changing. If the investment proposition is strong enough, there is an army of institutions and wealthy individuals that would happily back an OFEX listed company. Merrill Lynch, Gartmore, SVM, Nigel Wray - the list goes on and on and includes the biggest names in the City. The ONLY reason companies go to AIM is because that is where they are directed by the broker/NOMAD as they themselves are incapable of raising money for many propositions anywhere other than AIM. This too is changing. The humble public offer is also making a welcome return.

It is time to take a leap of faith. I don't cover that many companies on OFEX at the moment, but there is a mountain of undervalued gems still waiting to be discovered. Two constituents that I follow on WatsHot, Ashpool & MyHome, have doubled in the past 12 weeks. There is more to come from both of these constituents and others too. An Indian music company, Saregama, has just seen a return to profitability. Sound Alert is showing great promise too. Techclean, a little known sub-1m market cap franchise company with just a handful of shareholders, has recently seen director share purchases and is now seeking permission to restructure the capital of the business in order to pay dividends. Again, an opportunity is clearly apparent here. There are countless others. These situations will not remain unnoticed indefinitely. There is a sea of change sweeping over the junior market - but it could leave many behind. This is a rallying cry to all those that snub OFEX. If you don't get over your own misconceptions of what OFEX is, you will miss out. It has moved from being a haven for the stupid, to a haven for the brave and now it is a haven for those with foresight. My advice is to be one of the latter, not end up looking like the former.

There are very few brokers that do not trade in OFEX shares and therefore, one can transact bargains with great ease. If your broker doesn't currently deal in OFEX, it is foolish, backward and entirely disconnected from the City. It is my contention that over the course of the next 12 months, there will be at least 100 AIM listed constituents that decide to take the step up to OFEX. I say step up, as for many, whose shares rarely trade and enjoy very little liquidity, OFEX really could be a breath of fresh air. Aside from that, the fact that a company could realistically save in excess of 100,000 per annum just switching markets and sacrificing little else, is reason enough in many cases. With European legislation also threatening listing costs, one has to question how long AIM will be financially viable for many of its constituents.

In the last 6 weeks, through the new Plus Markets trading platform, it has become possible to transact buy and sells of AIM listed companies away from the LSE. I imagine that in the next 4-6 months, Plus will merge its trading platform with OFEX. This is likely to coincide with a raft of AIM constituents joining OFEX, many of whom have seen greater liquidity in their shares via Plus, than via the their official AIM listing on the LSE. It is not a question of if, but rather when this all happens, as it surely will. When Plus and OFEX become one, when the enlarged Plus Market has AIM constituents fleeing to it in their droves, retail punters that enjoy smaller company investing will have little place to go. Don't get left behind. It is time to change, it's time to board the OFEX express.

cheers GF.

The media industry is fragmenting and with the advent of IPTV (the convergence of Internet and TV) this represents the true gateway into adding TV to the ever richer mix of services that the industry can offer customers.

By providing consumers and businesses with interactive, multi-media applications via their IP-connected televisions, the way in which programmes are developed will change forever. Consumers will either use the platform to take part in programmes delivered to them - for example quiz shows - or simply use the technology to develop and push their own content.

Datamonitor believes that around 15 million households will be accessing IPTV services by the end of 2007, a significant increase over the 600,000 at the end of 2003.

cheers GF.

Two big buys gone through, pushing up now.

cheers GF.

I would warn people off OFEX stocks.

Liquidity is poor.

Also when you try and sell you are offered way below the bid.

DON'T touch any OFEX company.

Any one want to try this out.

Just do a dummy run.

cheers GF.

I bought these at just over i think 10p they are now 23p plus all in a matter of weeks.
cheers Gf.

agree, i look at a minimum of 4 - 8 weeks for a punt like this, but it's the combination of speculation, fundamentals and the chart that drove the punt. The thing about ofex is the increasing awareness and the low market cap- hence increased potential.

Indeed Indeed. A mass of potential.

cheers GF.

Rumours on other boards that Command TV are about to name the first new client wednesday. Big buying already going on, no move in price as yet.

cheers GF.

Buys still coming in.

cheers GF.

Im hoping Command TV have a share of this...

ITV PLC
08 March 2006

ITV PLAY LAUNCHES AS HOME OF HIGH QUALITY 'PARTICIPATION TV'



ITV today announced the launch of ITV Play, its new 'participation TV' digital
channel and programme brand.



The launch of ITV Play follows the success of existing call-TV formats Quizmania
and Play Sudoko, broadcast on ITV1 and ITV2 overnight in the last three months.



ITV Play will launch as a channel on Freeview on April 19th and ITV Play branded
programming will feature on ITV1 and ITV2 overnight from the 31st March. The ITV
Play channel will launch on other platforms later this year.



The 'participation TV' genre is growing fast and ITV Play will lead the market
with higher quality programmes, higher production values and higher and more
regular prizes.



This will be headed up by new Controller of ITV Play, William van Rest, who
helped establish the sector in his previous role at Optimistic Entertainment.
ITV Play programming will launch with 'The Mint' a high-energy late-night
compendium of live participation studio games, call games, puzzles, stunts and
events hosted by Brian Dowling.



Forthcoming Play formats will include a Coronation Street-inspired 'Rovers
Return' pub quiz from ITV Productions, featuring big cash prizes and Corrie star
appearances.



A broadband portal on ITV.com and specially commissioned Play games for the
successful ITV Mobile portal are also being devised and will launch in the next
few months.



Announcing the new channel at ITV's annual results presentation Charles Allen,
Chief Executive of ITV said:



'We believe that ITV Play has enormous potential to lead the market for
participation TV with higher production values, better programmes and bigger
prizes. The Play brand will sit alongside ITV's existing family of channels as
the place to find exciting, honest and entertaining original interactive
programmes.'



Jeff Henry, Head of ITV's Consumer team said:



'We are working with the UK's top producers to come up with high quality,
entertaining, playful formats that contain much more interaction than viewers
have seen before. With the success we've already from existing formats on ITV1
and ITV2, we feel confident that these programmes will prove extremely popular
with our mass-market audiences.



'ITV Play is another valuable addition to our growing portfolio of businesses
which have a direct relationship with the consumer. As with our mobile and
broadband initiatives we are responding to consumer demand with new and
innovative products.'



Ends.



Notes to Editors



ITV Consumer



ITV has established ITV Consumer (ITVC) to build businesses which create and
monetise direct consumer relationships for ITV. Led by Jeff Henry, it is
expanding

ITV's family of channels to encompass mobile, broadband and other services.



The Mint



A high-energy late-night compendium of live participation studio games, call
games, puzzles, stunts and events hosted by Brian Dowling, The Mint will be
filmed on a set resembling a stylish and opulent house with a cash vault (The
Mint) at its core.



Viewers will be able to call or text to participate in individual games for
smaller prizes or the chance to win The Mint jackpot. A co-production between
Stephen Leahy's Ludus TV and Enteraction, operators of 'The Great Big British
Quiz Channel', The Mint will be the first Play-branded programme.

cheers GF.

Quizmania now showing in Poland and

TV commerce
is mentioned as a new client on CTV website



This looks to be their website:

http://www.tvcommerce.tv/

cheers GF.

Hoping we get news here very soon with Command TV. Results by end of April.

cheers GF.

The Sunday Times April 09, 2006

TV is sitting pretty with quiz mania
A new wave of television that allows viewers to take part in quiz shows could make up for the drop in income from advertising. Matthew Goodman reports
GEORGINA BURNETT, an attractive 27-year-old from the south coast of England, always wanted to be a television presenter. After graduating in English literature from Warwick University, and a stint as a headhunter, she broke into television by working at weekends as an assistant producer on an ITV football show.

Since then, a steady stream of presenting jobs on various shopping channels has led Burnett to her current role as one of the most popular faces on participation television, which is taking Britain by storm.

She is one of a small team of presenters on Big Game TV, a satellite channel that broadcasts from the old Channel Five news studio at ITN headquarters in London. Each day it offers a dozen hours of live programming where viewers phone in to answer puzzles and quizzes for cash prizes.

Burnett may not be as well known as game-show stars such as Chris Tarrant or Anne Robinson, but her employer is one of about a dozen quiz channels that have sprung up in the past couple of years and which are being hailed as a financial lifeline for commercial television.

The genre, to date largely the preserve of obscure satellite stations, will be pushed into the mainstream when ITV, Britains largest commercial broadcaster, launches its own interactive-gaming channel, ITV Play, in 10 days, on the Freeview platform. It will then be launched on BSkyB, the satellite television network in which News Corporation, ultimate owner of The Sunday Times, has a 37.7% stake. It will also go onto cable TV.

Television advertising revenues have slumped and commercial broadcasters are trying to boost their revenues by turning to participation TV, or call TV as it is sometimes known.

It is simple to make, cost effective and has the added benefit of allowing broadcasters to get closer to their audiences.

Heres how call TV works. Viewers who choose to take part in quiz shows have to ring a premium-rate phone line, typically costing between 60p and 1 a call, and are charged whether or not they make it to the quiz. The broadcaster keeps most of the income from the calls, usually paying a third party for providing the interactive service.

The concept has been dogged by controversy. Tales abound of operators who fail to warn viewers they will be charged even if they do not make it through to the game, or who run quizzes with deliberately ambiguous questions to keep people ringing back. But these problems have done little to hold back the growth of call TV, and the companies behind the channels are sitting on a goldmine.

It is also an industry in which Britain can justifiably claim to be a world-beater. There is a greater concentration of this type of programming being produced in Britain than in any other leading television market, said Jasper Smith, chief executive of Optimistic Entertainment, the company behind the Quiz Nation channel.

Last Thursday, he led a delegation of Optimistics senior staff to Culver City studios in Los Angeles to oversee the American debut of Playmania, a two-hour strand of quiz and puzzle programming it has developed for the American market.

The appeal of such channels is twofold. Many viewers enjoy a sense of community from the shows, achieved from a combination of the interactivity and the small roster of presenters. People like the fact they can switch on and see familiar faces, said Burnett. A lot of them are housebound and its nice for them to watch people that they feel they know.

The other factor, of course, is the prize money. Big Game TV, for example, estimates it gives away 100,000 a month. ITV Play will raise the stakes significantly. One of its shows, The Mint, offers a 100,000 jackpot.

The main reason for ITVs interest in the genre is that it can help to offset the drop in advertising revenue. At its annual results last month, the company revealed that advertising income had fallen by 50m to 1.5 billion.

It established a consumer division to dream up ways of raising income direct from its viewers to combat the decline in advertising. As well as coming up with ITV Play, this unit developed episodes of popular shows such as Coronation Street that can be screened on mobile phones.

Channel 4 has not been immune from this process. After a review last year by Ofcom, the telecoms and media watchdog, Channel 4 was told it would have to start raising more revenue from non-advertising sources. Last August it launched Quiz Call, a satellite channel, via Ostrich Media, a subsidiary of its Ventures arm. A world apart from Channel 4s usual arts and cultural programming remit, Quiz Call is making profits after just eight months. The channel refuses to divulge how big these are, but experts predict it could make up to 10m this year.

The economics of call TV are mouth-watering. Most of the channels are run on a shoestring. An hour of programming can cost less than 1,000, while a channel may generate more than 20,000 calls in 10 or 12 hours of broadcasting per day. At 1 a shot, even after the fee to the supplier has been paid, it represents a healthy margin; between 15% and 35% is the norm.

Accounts for one such business, Quiz TV, for the year to December 2004, the latest available, show it did even better than that. It made pre-tax profits of 2m on turnover of 3.6m.

When you have a wide audience reach, the economics are pretty powerful, said Smith. Thats why major broadcasters in every territory in the world are flocking to interactive programming of this kind.

Small wonder, then, that ITV is entering the fray. It has recruited William van Rest, formerly an executive with Optimistic, to head its new channel and expects to make profits of 20m in its first year. A month-long trial this year on ITV1 and ITV2 generated 2m.

Van Rest hopes that through cross-promotion with its sister channels, ITV Play will be able to take participation TV to a new level. Having the ITV in our name is crucial, he said. It allows us to cross-promote our shows, and we will have access to talent and programme brands.

One of the first shows on the channel will be a pub quiz set in the Rovers Return, the pub in Coronation Street.

Analysts believe it is the right strategy. Theresa Wise, media partner at Accenture, a consultancy, said: They need to experiment and innovate and this is a good way of finding out what works and what doesnt.

ITV has a big advantage in that its brand is trusted. Viewers should be confident they will not be ripped off and will get paid promptly if they win.

After a rise in complaints from viewers of these kinds of shows last year, Icstis, the regulator of premium-telephone-line services, issued a code of conduct for the fast-growing call-TV industry. It said that complaints peaked last autumn and have dropped, possibly as viewers become more comfortable with the way such programmes work. Integrity is vital, said David Sanderson, a director of Big Game TV, and it makes business sense. Callers who win from time to time and get paid promptly are more likely to come back.

The trust issue does little to deflect criticism that call TV is a lazy answer to the problem of having to find new sources of income. Detractors of the fast-emerging genre argue that investing in better-quality programmes would lead to greater advertising revenue.

Defenders of interactive puzzle channels insist they are the natural extension of the old radio phone-in competitions and an expansion of the formula popularised by programmes such as This Morning, which run competitions.

I used to sit in when game shows were being recorded, such as The Price Is Right, said Van Rest. There would be such a huge buzz when the host invited contestants to come on down. With participation TV, thats exactly what they are doing.

He hopes the new channel will push the boundaries. Several other firms are trying to take the concept further by developing games that allow many players to take part simultaneously, or that will be available simultaneously on several platforms television, mobile phone and the internet.

Last week at an industry jamboree in Cannes, television bosses from around the world got a first taste of what the future holds. Yoomedia, a quoted company that runs the Avago channel, unveiled what it hopes could be the next big thing Tringo, a cross between bingo and Tetris, developed by an Australian software engineer. Yoomedia has the rights to develop the game as a digital-TV format. Contestants must fill up a bingo grid by putting interlocking sets of bricks together as quickly as possible. The fastest player wins.

Tringo will launch on television in the second half of this year and the company has high hopes for it.

We think its much more interesting than having somebody stand in front of a camera just asking you questions, said Michael Sinclair, Yoomedias executive chairman.

The more immediate problem for some of the smaller channels will be to assess the impact ITV Play will have on the market. One industry source predicted that it would wipe the floor with its rivals.

Others were more sanguine, arguing that it could help to boost the whole phenomenon. It will definitely have an impact on the others, but ultimately it legitimises what we are doing by using the ITV brand on this type of programming, said another industry source. Anything that makes the market feel more comfortable with this has to be good.

cheers GF.

Lifted from the Ofex master of the house Outsider.......

Interim results out today which can be found here:

http://www.ofex.com/story.shtml?ISIN=GB0007235459&NewsID=22690



Loss has turned to profit & clearly stake building looks the way to more significant profits than trading at least short term.


Even so I note serice revenue is a much more significant part of reccurring revenue & profit & indeed they didn't even used to offer such contracts as the software was so reliable. But this does provide a useful platform for more profits through stakes (mostly for sub 100) & increased sales.

Confirmation that full year results will exceed last year is also a nice bonus.

However the 400,000 stake bought for 1, so cheaply I suspect because of the value of Ashpool technology, is good news & indeed a further press release should enlighten us further.


Stakes in the past have been worth millions, which if you compare the mkt cap of 1.34m , gives an indication of potential.


Command TV & the new c40% stake look most exciting, although 47.5% of click solutions must have some sort of value too. Both Command & Pathfinder I suspect will continue to contribute towards both sales & further reccuring service revenue.

This being such a tiddler, in my opinion the potential for share price gain remains significant.

gf- any ideas why the recent rise, looks very promising!

ddoc2 it relates to their new product http://www.gonoodle.com/ still in test mode, but qaulity fantastic spoken to people in Europe, America & Asia, & yet quality like your talking to your next door neighbour on the phone, you must use headset though.

Ive heard its a brilliant inovation.

well unlike Skype it takes 10 seconds to download, no need to register & no quality issues as it's hosted on an individuals computer (I guess you need broadband though)

up 10.5p today after a 6p rise on Friday. More than trebled since goldfinger pointed it out