Interactive cable channel sets 1995 service startup; venture links ACTV with Prime Ticket, William Morris.

Venture links ACTV with Prime Ticket, William Morris 

An interactive cable television channel will be launched in Los Angeles early in 1995 by ACTV Inc., a New York-based firm that has pioneered personalized TV technologies already introduced in Canada but that have yet to hit the U.S. ACTV announced its "L.A. Project" last week and has formed alliances with the Prime Ticket Network and William Morris Agency, which will help on the programming side. ACTV has selected Los Angeles because it wants to build bridges to the Hollywood creative community and have its input in shaping interactive television.

Century City-based Prime Ticket is the nation's leading regional sports cable television network with 4 million viewers, while Beverly Hills-based Morris is one of the three largest talent agencies and has particular strength in television.

ACTV is a publicly traded company on NASDAQ that was founded in 1983 by inventor Dr. Michael Freeman, who developed video branching techniques that allow viewers to change programming and to have people on the screen respond to viewers' digitally made choices.

The company has dabbled in the software area, creating its own interactive educational shows, and had sales of $1.5 million in that area last year. Washington Post Inc. has a 15 percent interest in ACTV Inc., and a 51 percent stake in ACTV Interactive, its educational television subsidiary.

The L.A. Project will develop an interactive channel offering sports, game shows and other familiar television programming -- all with an interactive dimension -- that will be carried by one cable system in the county, according to David Reese, executive vice president of ACTV and head of the L.A. Project. Negotiations are going on with cable operators Reese didn't identify. This new channel will cost consumers an additional fee but that price has yet to be set. The channel will have ACTV's name and a special ACTV converter box will sit atop the TV and replace viewers' current cable box. The ACTV box allows other cable channels to be transmitted.

ACTV claims it will allow viewers to play game shows at home with the on-camera hosts responding to the viewers' digital input. Young viewers can participate in shows by digitally answering questions posed by puppet characters or teachers, for instance.

In sitcoms, viewers can advise cast members on how to best solve a dilemma. In an exercise video, the viewer can program the workout to meet individual needs. Prime Ticket tested the service with focus groups in Los Angeles in 1993 and was encouraged by the results, according to Nick Rhodes, vice president of business development. Century City-based Prime Ticket will debut interactive sports programming into about 250 homes starting this fall to test the system before it fully commits to the 1995 interactive channel debut, Rhodes said.

"We want to take our research to the next level, which is home service," he said. "We can't make ivory tower assumptions that this service is worth an additional subscription charge. We need to have the consumer tell us that."

Sports programming is one of the more compelling uses of interactive television, Reese said. Prime Ticket has 4 million viewers in California and the Southwest, including 2 million in Southern California.

In a demonstration at the William Morris Beverly Hills office, set up for the Business Journal, Prime Ticket's telecasts of Los Angeles Lakers basketball were enhanced by offering viewers four choices on the screen as the game was going on. A viewer who wants to isolate on basketball star Shaquille O'Neal just presses a button. Other options include seeing highlights from other games around the league.

William Morris is a leading representative or agent of television programming creative and executive talent. Reese is hopeful that the agency can be the bridge to television show creators who will adapt their shows and create new ones for the new channel.

Initially, Reese said, much of the programming will be shows that television watchers are already familiar with, and interactive elements will be added later.

Lee Rosenberg, senior vice president at Morris, said, "The L.A. Project represents an unprecedented opportunity for the entertainment industry and advertisers to develop and perfect targeted interactive programming here in Southern California."

In advertising, viewers will have choices to see products from particular advertisers they are interested in.

If Great Western Bank is advertising, the viewer gets four choices of the type of service they would like to see advertised such as checking/savings accounts, personalized banking, etc.

This feature was part of the Prime Ticket test in 1993 and Rhodes said advertisers like the concept because it allows them to better target consumers.