AOL, COMPUSERVE PLANNING FALL BATTLE FOR ON-LINE USERS.

Byline: Hiawatha Bray The Boston Globe

It's autumn, and along with millions of falling leaves, Americans can expect a steady downpour of computer disks. America Online and CompuServe, the nation's two biggest commercial computer networks, have launched new efforts to reinvigorate themselves, after a summer of stagnant growth.

AOL will make the biggest splash. During last week's Monday Night Football game, the company kicked off an advertising blitz budgeted at $100 million over the next three months alone. AOL Chairman Steve Case vowed that his company would spend at least as much next year. Along with traditional TV ads, AOL will run 30-minute infomercials, and also send a videotape to each of its 6 million members. And AOL will continue its practice of distributing its software on millions of computer disks stuffed into magazines or inserted into mailboxes.

``We're really taking AOL to the next step - reaching out to a mainstream audience,'' said Case. ``In order to do that, we decided to rethink every aspect of our business.''

In an enhancement of its service, AOL continues to expand its Digital Cities project, bringing community-oriented news and forums to major U.S. cities.

In Los Angeles, the Daily News' on-line service is accessed through AOL (keyword Daily News).

Case also said that AOL will work harder to retain current customers. For instance, AOL now interviews customers who want to cancel their membership, in an effort to change their minds. Case said that 20 percent of those who are interviewed decide to continue as AOL members. ``We often find they were trying to cancel because they couldn't find their way around the service,'' Case said.

Ironically, the first wave of new AOL disks won't feature the company's latest software. Earlier this year, AOL announced that it would incorporate the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser into its software. But Case said Sept. 30 that this version is still being tested and will become available in two weeks.

Meanwhile, AOL's rival CompuServe began distributing its new software Sept. 30, with the Microsoft browser built in. The new CompuServe software is available for Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 computers, but not yet for Macintosh machines.

CompuServe hopes that the new software, and a relatively modest print advertising campaign, will enable the company to remain competitive in the on-line services market. CompuServe claims 2.5 million customers in the United States and 5.2 million worldwide. CompuServe spokesman Jeff Shafer admitted that his company doesn't have the money to match the AOL blitz. ``We can't go toe-to-toe with AOL, so we're going to have to do our marketing better,'' Shafer said.

Sniping at AOL's mass mailings of software, Shafer said that CompuServe would not ``carpet bomb the country with coasters, or with disks that are going to become coasters.'' And the company's TV ads will focus on its family-oriented WOW! on-line service. As for CompuServe, Shafer said the company would focus on its traditional strength - its popularity with business people and experienced computer users. ``Those people do not tend to be the same audience that watches eight hours of TV a day,'' he said.

The new offerings from CompuServe and AOL come at a time of increased skepticism about the future of traditional on-line services. This summer, AOL reported a dramatic slowdown in the rate of new customer sign-ups, while CompuServe actually reported a membership decline.

A new survey released two weeks ago added fuel to the fire.

The on-line research firm Odyssey reported that more households now get Internet access through direct Internet access providers than through on-line services like AOL and CompuServe. The report has caused consternation among on-line companies, especially since other recent surveys have found the opposite result.

Emily Green, an analyst for Forrester Research in Cambridge, rejects the idea that the on-line services are being defeated by the direct Internet access providers.

But Green believes that the access providers are forcing on-line services to rethink their business strategies.