Cablevision puts Yonkers and Long Island On-Line; Cable Company Tests Computer Hook-ups -- Provides High-Speed Access to Prodigy, America Online and the Internet.

WOODBURY, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 21, 1994--Cablevision Systems Corp. today launched tests linking customers in select Long Island and Yonkers communities with the computer services Prodigy and America Online, and providing direct access to the Internet.

In Yonkers, the service will be tested on the Optimum TV network. Optimum TV, an advanced package of cable programming services and technology delivered over a state-of-the-art fiber optic and coaxial cable network, was launched in Yonkers this summer and will be available shortly on Long Island.

"Thanks to cable's broad pipeline, high speed computer communications is now a reality," said Cablevision vice chairman Marc A. Lustgarten, who is overseeing the on-line project. "Compared with telephone modems, computer hook-ups via broadband cable offer a range of user advantages. Data transmission speeds up to one thousand times those of the best telephone modems are possible, drastically reducing the time needed to access data. The computer connection can be permanently active without a separate dedicated telephone line and without interrupting the transmission of cable television programming and other services on the broadband system. Instant access to on-line services becomes a reality," Lustgarten added.

The first phase of the test is a technical trial involving 25 locations in Yonkers and on Long Island. During the test period, Cablevision will supply Zenith Electronics computer modems free to test participants. Customers may subscribe to participating service companies America Online or Prodigy; other providers are expected to join the test shortly. Direct access to the Internet through a Cablevision gateway will also be featured.

In preparation for these tests, Cablevision has been working with Prodigy for more than a year, distributing Prodigy's service over its corporate local area network (LAN). Cablevision is currently experimenting with America Online on its OptimumTV service in Yonkers.

Cablevision plans to use the market test to aid in developing its own on-line services and to refine pricing and other commercial aspects of the cable computer connection. By the end of the first quarter of 1995, Cablevision plans to begin a full roll-out of the service to its customers in Yonkers and on Long Island.

The advantages customers obtain by accessing these services through Cablevision include:

-- instant service access, with no dial-up time;

-- dramatically enhanced communications speed -- up to 1,000 times faster transmission than telephone circuits provide;

-- no need to tie-up existing telephone lines, or acquire additional dedicated lines -- saving line installation costs and monthly charges;

-- direct access to the Internet through a Cablevision gateway.

The On-Line test is one of many advanced communications possibilities Cablevision is exploring. Several weeks ago, Cablevision and IBM demonstrated an Electronic Community high-speed local computer network they have jointly developed in Cablevision's Yorktown Heights system in Westchester County. The first phase of that project links computers in area schools and IBM employee homes with each other and with IBM's T.J. Watson Research Center.

Cablevision Systems Corp. is the nation's fifth largest cable system operator, serving 2.5 million customers in 19 states. More than 1.4 million Cablevision subscribers are concentrated in the New York Metropolitan region.

CONTACT: Cablevision, Woodbury

              Norm Fein, 516/496-1472
                       or
              Edelman PR, New York
              Tony Herrling, 212/704-8176