APPLIANCE SCIENCE; CABLE SERVICE PUTS INTERNET FEEL ON GTE SUBSCRIBERS' TELEVISIONS.

Byline: P.J. Huffstutter Daily News Staff Writer

Joining the rush to make television an Internet-friendly appliance, GTE Corp. launched its mainStreet Interactive cable service in Ventura County this week.

Now available in Thousand Oaks, GTE officials plan to offer the service to residents in Camarillo and unincorporated areas of Ventura County in the next couple months.

``It's all about getting the people all the news and entertainment they need as quickly as possible,'' said Robert J. Regan, senior vice president of programming for GTE Main Street Inc.

A slim black box connects to the subscriber's cable set. Users can use the accompanying alphanumeric remote to browse mainStreet's 95 different areas. Kids can visit virtual playgrounds, students can tap multimedia learning tools and parents can play games and explore new entertainment options.

The service offers stock quotes from ``E-Trade''; games like poker and Joker's Wild, where local subscribers play each other with fictitious money, but can win real prizes; regularly updated and localized news from United Press International; and access to a multimedia version of Grolier Encyclopedia and Barron's interactive SAT preparatory program.

In addition, GTE has opened a television studio in Santa Monica, where mainStreet staff film original programs. One of the first releases, a variety show called ``Virtuality,'' is aimed at kids ages 6 to 10.

Yet mainStreet does not offer a live link to the Web, like Microsoft's WebTV Networks and the San Francisco-based NetChannel, an Internet TV company set to launch this summer. Instead, mainStreet provides access to a closed system of copies of Web sites, most of which are drawn from local schools, libraries and municipalities.

MainStreet costs $3.95 an month for GTE Americast cable subscribers, in addition to their monthly premium channel service. It was first offered commercially in Clearwater and St. Petersburg, Fla., in June.

GTE Americast has about 25,000 customers nationwide. About half subscribe to mainStreet, said GTE spokesman Larry Cox.

``We want this to be a family-friendly, G-rated thing,'' said Stella Alvo, vice president of consumer marketing for mainStreet. ``The potential success could be huge.''

The promise of interactive television, however, has generally failed to blossom. Time Warner Inc. recently announced it will close its interactive TV project in Orlando, Fla.

Viacom Inc., which spearheaded an interactive trial in Castro Valley in 1994, slowly eased back on the project because of lack of success. Last summer, the media company sold the cable systems that carried the trial.

And despite WebTV capturing the attention of the media and early adopters, the set-top box has failed to capture a mainstream audience. Since its introduction in October, WebTV has grabbed only 50,000 subscribers nationwide.

Some critics insist the problem is the WebTV price tag. After Microsoft shelled out $425 million for WebTV Networks last month, the two companies that make the actual boxes - Sony Electronics and Philips Consumer Electronics - cut the cost from $300 to $250.

Even GTE Corp. hasn't enjoyed much success with its own forays into this arena. The mainStreet project began simply as a movie-on-demand service in Cerritos back in 1989, but Cablevision, the cable company that carried mainStreet in Cerritos, dropped it earlier this year, citing both lack of public interest and a conflict of interest with GTE's own steps into the cable market.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--Color) GTE's mainStreet Interactive cable service will feature children's shows produced at its Santa Monica ``virtual TV studio.''

(2--Color) Health Test is one of 95 areas users can browse on mainStreet, a cable service available in Ventura County.

Photos courtesy of GTE Corp.