Baseball Coverage Has Only Scratched the Surface

You are watching the Angels on television. Catcher Jorge Fabregas--another in an endless queue of lollygaggers--scratches himself, steps out, scratches himself again. An itch comes over you like a tall wave over a bad surfer. You yearn for a pitch clock, a fast-forward button, a ban on scratching. You eye the refrigerator, the remote, the laundry you could be washing.

You need statistics, trivia, anything to render this viewing experience more tolerable.

InTV has just the fix for you.

A subdivision of ACTV, InTV is an interactive television network being offered free on a test basis to Ventura County Cablevision customers.

The network, which reaches 26% of Montreal cable subscribers, will formally launch its U.S. offensive in September with a bevy of educational programs and concerts.

InTV’s prospects for prosperity, however, are directly linked to its partnership with the Prime Sports Network, which carries the Angels, Lakers, Mighty Ducks and Kings in the Los Angeles area.

“This is mostly information-gathering to see if we want to do this on a broader basis,” said Bryan Byrd, Prime’s information director.

Said Brent Imai, InTV’s project manager: “Once people start to do this, they will like it so much that they won’t want to give it up.”

Though hockey and basketball telecasts offer the opportunity for isolation cameras on star players, the leisurely pace of baseball is best suited for--and most in need of--InTV’s touch.

As an Angel broadcast begins, InTV subscribers view a screen menu designed to spice up Prime Network’s standard visual feed.

By pressing one of four buttons on an InTV remote, viewers may choose either the regular live action, a cutaway to a week-in-review segment, a statistical screen to complement the action which includes scouting reports on each player, and instant replay.

During the game, player features replace the week-in-review segment. If you choose to leave Mr. Fabregas in the midst of his scratching, you may watch a profile of Tim Salmon, then click back to live action in time to catch Fabregas in mid-spit.

Though Imai points out that the statistical option is not a searchable data base--thus, someone seeking Gary DiSarcina’s fielding percentage in Thursday night games in domed stadiums will still need to look elsewhere--baseball broadcasts do provide two more features for baseball junkies: trivia questions and “It’s Your Call.”

The little people inside InTV answer their own trivia question for the viewer a half-inning later. Knowing that Jay Schroeder was the quarterback drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1979 warrants a “good job.”

Baseball know-it-alls will especially enjoy “It’s Your Call.” Viewers, again by merely clicking the four buttons, predict whether a runner will steal a base, a batter will bunt or a pitcher will throw a curve. Top prognosticators receive free Angel tickets from InTV, so they can predict in person.

InTV will cost about the same as premium channels HBO and Showtime. In the future, InTV hopes to add options such as highlight packages from Prime’s Press Box program and even direct cuts to games in progress on other networks. The technology is available; only rights fees must be worked out.

Prime Network has offered rights to its programming in what should be a mutually beneficial arrangement: as InTV attracts subscribers, Prime may attract more advertisers. In addition to regular ads on Prime, these advertisers may run customized spots on InTV, which viewers may tailor to their tastes with a button push.

Together, Prime and InTV aim to restrain surfing between channels in favor of surfing within one.

“This can’t really hurt the viewer,” Byrd said. “If you don’t like InTV, you can always watch the game on Prime.”

Imai, who was executive producer at Prime for eight years, cited this partnership project as another step up the technological ladder.

“It changes the whole style of watching a game,” Imai said.

To InTV, it was an itch that needed scratching.