''I believe we've only scratched the surface with our programming,'' said Larry Wangberg, the senior vice president of the Warner-Amex metro division and former head of the Columbus Qube operation. Also, there is a question about whether there is a significant audience for dozens of different services. On the other hand, repeat programming on many channels, and marginal services on several others, suggests that cable technology has surpassed the capacity to exploit it. With that range of choices, it will be significant to see what mixture of services subscribers buy, and how much they are willing to spend for entertainment. In addition, individual first-run movies will be offered over four channels at a one-time charge, usually about $3. According to a company official, new subscribers are taking an average of two pay services in addition to the basic service.
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It will also offer four seperate movie-oriented pay services - Home Box Office, Showtime, the Movie Channel and Front Row. The Cincinnati system will offer more than a dozen at the start, including services devoted exclusively to news, children's programs, movies and the performing arts. When Qube was started in Columbus in 1977, it did not carry a single satellite-delivered national program. The Cincinnati system will use 46 of its 60 channels at the start, an indication of how rapidly the cable industry has grown. Warner-Amex officials said that Qube subscribers in Columbus had enthusiastically embraced the two-way feature and the chance to ''touch-in.'' However, Warner-Amex has declined to say how frequently various services are used, which makes it hard to assess how successful Qube has been there. The interactive programs include an amateur-night show in which viewers choose the winners, a game show on which they can play along and win prizes, and a public-affairs talk show in which they can express their opinions.Ĭhoices will be limited to a few hours of interactive shows a week.
The system will ultimately be able to reach all 170,000 homes in Greater Cincinnati and an additional 161,000 in the city. Sets in about 4,000 Qube homes in 14 communities will be activated during ceremonies at Warner-Amex headquarters here tomorrow afternoon.
By ''touching in'' they can answer questions from the Warner studio. Subscribers to Qube will receive a console box equipped with five response buttons. Question of DemandĪmong the issues are whether a significant demand will emerge for interactive services such as home security, banking, single-event programs and shopping at home how much subscribers will pay, beyond their basic monthly charge, for additional entertainment and to what extent a fully interconnected metropolitan cable system will attract advertisers and prove useful to local institutions. For the first time, an exceptionally sophisticated cable system, proposed during heated competition for the franchise, will be tested in the marketplace.
The Cincinnati system, which will eventually reach 42 communites in Greater Cincinnati and the city itself, is likely to attract attention on its own. It has become a model on which cable companies have based their bids for cable franchises in major cities. That 30-channel service is the only commercial two-way system in operation. Warner-Amex set up the first two-way Qube system as a test basis to a portion of Columbus, Ohio, 3 1/2 years ago. Warner-Amex Cable Communications will activate a 60-channel service that will permit subscribers to express opinions, play games, shop at home, take courses and purchase movies on a per-view basis.
The most advanced two-way cable-television system in the country will be introduced to this Cincinnati suburb tomorrow.
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