Interactive TV to Make Local Debut

The county’s first commercial interactive television network will begin broadcasting on Ventura County Cablevision in May, company officials said.

The network will be marketed as TVI: Television Interactive and tested initially in the Westlake area. The cable service says that by September it hopes to provide the service to 1,000 subscribers on the eastern edge of Ventura County and western area of Los Angeles County.

TVI’s introduction ends 18 months of work by a consortium of TV groups headed by New York-based ACTV Inc., an interactive software producer.

A new ACTV subsidiary, Los Angeles Interactive Network, will direct programming that at first will include Turner Educational Service’s “CNN Newsroom’ and “Adventure Learning,” both of which will provide viewers with quizzes after the lessons.

Prime Ticket will also provide sports programming offering viewers different camera angles. For instance, beginning with California Angels baseball telecasts in May, viewers will have a choice of four camera angles plus instant replay, and will be able to alternate among them throughout the game.

The service will also provide a dozen “text channels,” with information ranging from local weather to horoscopes.

The interactive program, which was test-marketed in Canada and England, will be free initially but will eventually cost $10 to $20 a month. Company officials say they hope to open up the interactive market to the rest of its 91,000 Ventura County subscribers sometime in 1996.