Home shopping joint venture lands Killeen as CEO.

Venture of L.A. Times, PacTel unit hires data expert

Jeffrey M. Killeen has been appointed chief executive officer of ESS Ventures, the new home shopping joint venture of the Los Angeles Times and Pacific Telesis Electronic Publishing.

Announced in January, ESS Ventures will combine the Times' access to information about shopping options, largely drawn from the paper's advertisements, with Pacific Telesis' telephone and electronic communications expertise to allow consumers to obtain information and shop via phone.

Killeen was formerly president of American Insurance Services Group, which is considered the largest provider of electronic claims information services in the U.S. property and casualty insurance industry.

Before that, he was a senior vice president with Reuben H. Donnelley Corp., a leader in the field of yellow pages advertising and publishing.

At Donnelley, Killeen oversaw development of the company's audiotext consumer information services. Audiotext is a computer-assisted telephone system, similar to a voice mail system, where callers can gain access to a wide variety of information.

Killeen will be responsible for the development, introduction and ongoing operations of ESS Ventures -- scheduled for a summer 1995 launch -- and will report directly to the joint venture's board of directors.

Callers to the ESS system will be able to locate businesses and obtain information about them by phone. Eventually, the system will grow into a completely interactive venture, allowing callers to shop via phone, personal computer or interactive television as well.

Customers will gain access to the system by calling ESS shopping assistants, who will then search through the company's electronic database to local information in such fields as entertainment, automotive, real estate, travel, home improvement and retail businesses. Callers can have the information either read to them over the phone, or sent via fax or mail.

Callers will be charged a flat rate to use the system, said Pacific Telesis spokesman Craig Watts.

All applicable businesses in a given sector and geographical area -- say, Chinese restaurants in the west San Fernando Valley -- will have their names, addresses and phone numbers listed on the database at no charge, he said. Businesses wishing to list additional information -- such as hours of operation, credit cards accepted, daily specials and perhaps even menus available to callers sending in orders via facsimile -- can pay to advertise those services, Watts said.

Advertisers in the Los Angeles Times will most likely get a discount on any additional advertising they choose to do on the ESS system, Watt said.

"The venture is looking to make this an enhancement to the advertising in the L.A. Times," Watt said.

The information itself will come in the form of business listings, classified and display advertising, editorial (such as restaurant reviews) and promotional materials.

The service will first be available in Southern California, primarily drawing on information obtained by the Times. However, ESS officials said they will seek partnerships with other information providers, including other newspapers, to expand coverage statewide.

Company officials also said that, while the system will originally be accessible only by telephone, it will ultimately expand into the home computer, interactive television and other new technology formats.

Lee Camp, president of Pacific Telesis Electronic Publishing Services, said the joint venture is intended to "put the consumer in the driver's seat of electronic shopping. For that, we're creating the home-shopping lane of the communications superhighway."