WebTV...........
Are You Ready for Interactive TV?
By LYNN ELBER
.c The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - Wink. WebTV. They are companies whose names carry a suggestion of enticement, even entrapment.
But all they want to do, they say, is bring you and your television set closer. Make the two of you a little less remote by making your remote control - with the help of cutting-edge technology and cash - do more.
The key is interactivity, a television advance that has been touted for several years and which promoters claim is finally poised to begin mass distribution in 1999.
They're ready to make the leap, but are customers ready to jump with them? Yes, say those who have invested millions of dollars in turning TV sets into two-way communications centers that offer information, movies on demand and other services.
Maybe, maybe not, say others.
One optimist is Tom Oliver, chairman and chief executive officer of Interactive Channel, designed to allow access to pay-per-view programs, the Internet and even local tidbits including weather forecasts and real estate listings.
The company has deals with partners including Court TV to develop online content that complements TV programs by giving viewers the chance to watch a program and then seek out related information on the Net.
The city-specific content, dubbed LocalSource Television, will bow next year on cable systems in Rockford, Ill., and Columbus, Ohio.
Simplicity is what will make his service attractive to consumers, Oliver said, adding that it is a little grandiose to call it the television of tomorrow.
''It's the television of today; we're just adding some things,'' he said. ''It's about enhanced television. It's about more viewable, more pleasurable television.''
Which, not surprisingly, can come with a price tag: Interactive Channel was made available to 1,000 customers in Colorado Springs, Colo., to sample for $6.95 a month.
For many interactive services, an access fee could be just the start of a sizable monthly tab as a viewer takes advantage of expanded show-buying choices, shopping and other costly diversions.
What ''interactivity'' actually means varies widely from company to company as do, undoubtedly, the chances for acceptance. The range of applications was on view this month at the Western Show, an annual Southern California cable television convention.
Consumers in test or limited markets already have firsthand experience with this new breed of television viewing.
Some services require a digital cable signal and set-top box, while others can be used with existing analog systems (all TV stations are required by the government to go digital before 2006). Some are intended to make the TV a rival to the personal computer modem; others take a different approach.
Wink, for instance, allows viewers to summon additional sports statistics on ESPN, shop for compact discs on MTV or scan the headlines on CNN. More than a dozen networks have signed up to provide Wink-enabled programming. Advertisers have come aboard, too, including Levi's and AT&T.
A viewer can order samples, request information or otherwise boss the TV around by clicking the remote control on an ''I'' - for interactive - in the corner of the TV screen.
Wink does not, however, promise true Internet access.
Free to consumers, Wink is in 100,000 households in Tennessee, Florida and Missouri. The company expects to have more than 1 million subscribers in 1999, said Allan Thygesen, Wink's vice president of programming and advertising.
''We keep the video primary. Wink requires one, two or three remote buttons (for interactivity); people get what they want and get back to watching television,'' Thygesen said.
Technology mogul Paul Allen, co-founder with Bill Gates of Microsoft Corp., has demonstrated his faith in the concept. Allen made a $10 million investment in Wink this month through his Vulcan Ventures.
Microsoft itself owns pioneering WebTV, which showcased advances to its television-Internet pairing at the Western Show. The updated system, available next year, allows a TV image to remain on the screen while Internet data also is displayed.
A viewer might keep an eye on the Emmy Awards while retrieving ''real-time'' information linked to the show, such as a clip of a winning performance or the chance to take part in a related poll.
MoreCom, a system that also allows simultaneous TV and Internet viewing and use, is betting that the world is eager for such innovation.
Does that potential audience include viewers long accustomed to a ane-way relationship with their TV sets? Or are younger technophiles the more likely users?
''My 9-year-old son's been on computers since he was 4. I know he's going to expect more out of this TV box than I ever did,'' responds MoreCom executive John Walber. ''But if it's easy, everybody will do it.''
Not so fast, says Harold Vogel, an independent industry analyst, who predicts a tough road ahead for video interactivity.
He quotes a famous comment by Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs: ''When you want to turn your mind on, you go to your computer. When you want to turn your mind off, you go to your television.''
Vogel added: ''It's going to take a lot of easy access and very appealing types of programming in order to get people to change they way they interact with the TV set and the amount of time and money they spend on it.''
AP-NY-12-08-98 1303EST
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