n079  1902  06 Jul 80
 
BC-VIDNEWS 1stadd
NYT NEW YORK: need newspapers.''
    This is the concern of the entire industry, although it is quickly
pointed out that a newspaper costs only a fraction of the cost of a
personal computer that will provide the newspaper's equivalent on its
screen. It is also noted that you cannot tuck a computer terminal
under your arm as you head for the subway, or use a home computer to
swat flies, wrap fish or house-train the dog.
    Still, projections indicate that by the end of the decade one out of
four American homes will probably have some kind of computer terminal.
    ''We see it as a new development on the communications scene,'' said
John C. Quinn, vice president for news at the Gannett Co. ''My own
view is that it will evolve into an additional service for the
public, not unlike what happened with television after World War II.
Remember how TV was going to kill radio and newspapers?''
    Estimates of the number of personal computers in use in the U.S.
today vary from 300,000 to 500,000 - used by hobbyists who play
games, businessmen who want stock-market quotations at home or by
persons who can tell the computers to make airline reservations, buy
and sell real estate, send flowers and check restaurant reservations.
The computers can also be used to cast votes on referendums or to
heat homes in winter and air condition them in summer.
    These personal computers range from terminals with elaborate
attachments like high-speed printers and disk storage units, which
cost thousands of dollars, to portable typewriter-like terminals that
are expected to be available for a few hundred dollars in the near
future.
    What is new about the CompuServe and Knight-Ridder projects is that
they are the first major experiments in delivering news to the
''two-way systems'' - systems in which the viewer can both receive
information and send it.
    The Knight-Ridder and CompuServe experiments are linked to central
computers by telephone lines. Others systems link up to a central
computer by cable. These two types of systems are usually referred to
as viewdata or videotext. Still another type of system, teletext, is
like television in that it broadcasts the information from the
computer to the home terminal. With teletext, the viewer can use his
ordinary television set and a decoder to make use of the system.
    Various forms of these two-way systems are already in use in Britan,
France, Japan and Canada. The most advanced is Prestel, operated by
the British Post Office, which has 4,000 subscribers, 3,500 in
businesses and 500 in private residences. The General Telephone and
Electonics Corp. has obtained the license to market Prestel in the
United States.
    ''We are advising those who own information to experiment and get
involved now,'' said Haines Gaffner, president of Link, one of the
leading advisory companies monitoring the new electronic information
services. ''But many publishers are by nature conservative and their
attitude is a 'We can wait' and let pioneers like Knight-Ridder do
the experimenting.''
    On the Knight-Ridder system alone, the information available fills
more than 15,000 frames - one frame being roughly a screenful of
graphics, all in color - and extends to language lessons and
reference materials, boating tips and advice to sports enthusiasts.
    But Gaffner noted that ''the big question is whether there is any
demand for this kind of information. And despite all the excitement,
there is no proof that the demand exists.''
    
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n080  2113  06 Jul 80
 
BC-VIDNEWS Addatend
NYT NEW YORK: demand exists.''
    The Knight-Ridder project will monitor the viewing extensively - it
will be able to determine how many viewers were interested in
articles on tennis, how many read recipes, what kinds of advertising
had appeal - and then conduct inteviews with the participating
families.
    The New York Times and The Associated Press are also providing
information for the experiment. The Times supplied material about
restaurants and tourist attractions in New York City. The Associated
Press transmits 60,000 to 100,000 words a day to the viewers in live
news. If a bulletin comes in on the Associated Press wire the
home-computer viewer in Coral Gables may be able to call it up on his
screen before he hears it on radio.
    Another electronic experiment, scheduled to begin at the end of the
summer, involves Dow Jones & Co., The Dallas Morning News and the
A.H. Belo Corp., parent company of The Dallas Morning News. The
information in this experiment will be transmitted to 200 families in
the Dallas area by cable provided by Sammons Communications, a
privately owned company based in Dallas.
    Unlike the Knight-Ridder experiment, which is free to the users, the
Dallas project will charge about $40 a month.
    A major concern newspaper executives is whether these home
information services will present regulatory problems and pose
questions relating to the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom
of the press. Television and radio, which use the public airwaves for
transmission, are regulated by the federal government, but newspapers
are not.
    Decisions have not yet been made on regulation of the electronic
home delivery of information, although Richard E. Wiley, former
chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, recently told
newspaper executives at a convention in Atlanta that the commission
could regulate the content of the home delivery services and impose
provisions such as that requiring equal time for opposing politicians.
    William S. Paley, chairman of CBS Inc., warned that the new
elecronic delivery systems could result in regulation of the print
media. Addressing the Associated Press Broadcasters in Denver last
month, Paley said:
    ''Once the print media comes into the home through the television
set, or an attachment, with an impact and basic content similar to
that which the broadcasters now deliver, then the question of
government regulation becomes paramount for print as well.''
    Also of concern to newspapers is a decision by the FCC in April to
deregulate substantial portions of the telecommunications market.
Under the ruling, AT&T for the first time would be permitted to offer
certain information services in addition to communications.
    In addition, there are bills before both the House and the Senate
that would allow AT&T to select, edit and deliver news to
subscribers' homes electronically through telephone lines.
    The American Newspaper Publishers Association has asked for a public
debate on the issue.
    
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