----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeffrey Pledger" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: February 26, 2001 10:25 PM
Subject: media: AbleTV's webcast of the Garrett Decision . . .


I hope that I am posting this message with enough lead time so that as
many of
you as possible can participate in the webcast on Wednesday night,
February
28.  Please be sure that you have the latest version of the Real G2
basic
player installed on your computer in order to view the webcast.  I
would
appreciate any cross postings of this message onto other list serves
where the
message has not been view yet.  Thank you in advance and I am looking
forward
to hearing your voices on the webcast either through email, chat or by
telephone.

jeffrey Pledger
President, AbleTV.net



tvwoRLDWIDE.COM
       PRESS RELEASE
TVWorldwide.com Studios To Premiere
"The Able Gang's Viewpoint" Program
Where Disabled Journalists Discuss The
Supreme Court's Garrett Decision
Controversial Ruling Galvanizes Community for New Interactive Web Show
at
www.abletv.net on Wednesday, February 28th at 7:30PM EDT
For Immediate Release
Monday, February 26, 2001
Contact:        [log in to unmask]
TV Worldwide.com, Inc.
        www.tvworldwide.com
(703) 961-9250
Jeff Pledger
[log in to unmask]
www.abletv.net
(301) 890-5944
Chantilly, Va.  In the first program of its kind ever, TVWorldwide.com
will
premiere a live webcast on its AbleTV.net web-based TV channel for
people with
disabilities, where journalists with disabilities will discuss major
issues
affecting 54 million Americans with disabilities in the U.S. Supreme
Court's
Garrett Decision. "The Able Gang's Viewpoint"  will focus on the major
unemployment issue challenging more than 11 million disabled people in
the
U.S., including the impact of the recent Supreme Court Garrett
Decision that
states should be shielded from lawsuits by individuals seeking money
damages
under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
        The Garrett decision is being interpreted as a back door
safety net
strategy for states who do not want to hire people with disabilities.
This is
especially true among states with poor civil rights records.
        The panel will also discuss the recent New Freedom Initiative
program
launched by President Bush earlier this month. The program involves
putting
additional money into assistive technology development, the purchase
of
assistive technology equipment, providing more money for special
education for
disabled children and incentives for housing and better treatment for
people
with mental health problems.
 "Disability issues are national issues.  The lack of access to jobs,
education, transportation, public buildings, dwellings, recreational
facilities, Internet and assistive technology are a tremendous
economic drain
on the country. More devastating to the country is the loss of the
abilities of
millions of unemployed people with disabilities," says John Williams,
one of
the journalists on the panel. Williams writes Assistive Technology, a
weekly
column appearing Wednesdays on Business Week.com under Daily Briefing.
His
award-winning column is credited with raising disability issues to a
national
awareness in the media and among politicians, government policy
makers,
employers, consumers and educators.
The annual cost to keep people with disabilities dependent and out of
the
workforce exceeds a minimum of $150 billion annually, reports the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. This is more money than the
GNP of 85%
of the countries in the world.
        Williams interviewed George W. Bush, former Democratic vice
president Al
Gore and Senator John McCain (R-AR) on where they stand on disability
issues
when they ran for president. He has been writing about disability
issues and
assistive technology products for two decades.
                "We have a great opportunity to offer employers and
disabled
listeners an accessible worldwide forum to discuss critical issues
challenging
the country.  While I am unhappy with the Supreme Court's decision, I
understand that it is a legal and valid decision. " said Jeff Pledger,
President of AbleTV.net, who is blind and one of the panelists.

                "If this show works to inform and build consensus
among
listeners, we can produce similar programs in an ongoing web series
that will
take on these issues from a journalistic perspective," commented Dave
Gardy,
CEO of TVWorldwide.com, who will be the moderator.

"We are pleased to provide captioned streaming for this live event,
just like
we've done for all our live and archived events, " remarked Pledger. "
The
disability community is excited about the voice they'll have in this
program."

Other panelists include Carmen Jones, President of Solutions Marketing
Group
and Damon Chappie of Roll Call newspaper.   " We have picked
experienced,
knowledgeable and respected individuals in this field to discuss
issues of
national importance," said Gardy.
The live event, "The Able Gang's Viewpoint: Disability" is slated for
7:30 PM
EDT, Wednesday, Feb. 28, from the Internet TV studios of
TVWorldwide.com and is
sponsored by Reliacast, Inc which has been selected to deploy its
state-of-the-art audience-tracking and e-ticketing software solution
for the
webcast.
 "It will be great to have the Reliacast Virtual Turnstile software to
get
feedback on the traffic we expect so we can continue to enhance the
experience
for online participants," Gardy said.
                   The webcast will feature AbleTV.net's captioned
video
streaming or "webcapting" process to aid those with disabilities in
participating via chat, e-mail and phone.
                   The program will be archived with the captioning
for later
viewing after the webcast at the same event site link. Participants
should have
the free Real Player version 8 installed prior to the event and can
log on for
their free Reliacast e-ticket any time prior to the event on the 28th.
Questions can be directed to [log in to unmask] before and during
the event.

About TVWorldwide.com and AbleTV.net
A full-service video streaming application service provider,
TVWorldwide.com is
currently working with clients and strategic partners on the latest in
live and
archived state-of-the-art video streaming content applications.
The TVWorldwide.com network is an affiliation of community-based
Internet TV
channels, each underwritten by a strategic partner, "aimcasting" to
targeted
b2b and professional special interest audiences worldwide.
TVWorldwide.com has
worked with one of its first aimcast channels, AbleTV.net, to pioneer
live and
archived video streaming with closed captioning and audio description
to aid in
web site accessibility for the disabled. With this advance, AbleTV.net
received
its charter sponsorship from Microsoft Corporation.  TVWorldwide.com
received
first round financing from PSINet Ventures, Ltd., the wholly-owned
corporate
unit of PSINet, Inc. (Nasdaq:PSIX)



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