REEL LIFE / FILM & VIDEO FILE : Digital Cable TV Technology Has Something for All : New offerings include channels devoted to recovery programs, the military and dating.

The much ballyhooed digital technology that will enable cable television to expand from dozens of channels to hundreds is approaching. Where are they going to find programming for the brave new world of the broad band?

This month’s Western Cable Show in Anaheim provided some clues and, judging by the offerings, we in Ventura County are indeed fortunate that digital cable is still some years in the future.

“There are about 40 new channels looking for distributors,” said Richard Yellen, marketing director at Ventura County Cable.

Among the plethora of classic movie channels and broadcast television reruns, there’s a food channel, a golf channel and a channel called Singlevision, geared toward dating.

Yellen recites a partial list of the more eclectic entrants:

There’s the Adam and Eve network, that’s heavy R programming combined with adult home shopping; the military network, mostly F-15s belting back and forth across the screen; and the Recovery Net.

Let’s pause there for a moment.

The Recovery Net is a channel devoted to 12-step recovery programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous. As it stands now, the programming aims to provide support and empathy for those with addictions.

With interactive technology made possible by digital signals, a dependent viewer seeking the personal support of his TV could sit down and tell the tube, “My name’s Bob and I’m an alcoholic.” The box will respond “Hi, Bob.”

“That’s not as far-fetched as it might sound,” said Bill Airy, who markets Recovery Net for a Colorado cable television company. “In the second phase technology, when we have true interconnectivity, viewers will be able to communicate back.

“The Recovery Net is very niche-oriented,” Airy said “There are millions of people impacted nationwide. This is one of those sleeper concepts.”

Sleeper or snoozer?

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Even if the broad band isn’t here, Ventura County is getting more movie screens.

Edwards Theaters will build a 12-screen, 54,880-square-foot theater in Camarillo at an undeveloped retail center on Ventura Avenue between Carmen Drive and Las Posas Road.

Janss Mall announced plans to add a theater complex as part of a planned $30-million expansion. Executives for the mall are in negotiations with Mann Theaters and have signed agreements, but are still short of concluding a deal to bring a nine-screen theater to the Thousand Oaks mall.