GTE May Delay Plans for Interactive Video Service

GTE Corp. will probably delay its plans to build a trial interactive video service in Virginia, but the company, parent of Thousand Oaks-based GTE California Inc., still hopes to launch a network that will include Ventura County.

GTE Corp. and AT & T Corp., its partner in a Manassas, Va., field test, said they decided not to go ahead with that trial because changes in technology made the project unnecessary. AT & T had planned to test a prototype system during the trial, but now expects to concentrate on a different approach to video.

GTE said it still hopes to build a nationwide video system starting in Ventura County, Honolulu, and Clearwater and St. Petersburg, Fla. Regulatory approval of the system is pending.