AOL Time Warner Joins Interactive-TV BrigadeAOL Time Warner Joins Interactive-TV Brigade

AOL Time Warner has joined Cablevision Systems Corp. and Microsoft in this summer's interactive-TV pool party with the launch of a new Interactive Video division that will "accelerate the growth of interactive television and advanced cable services for mass-market consumers," according to AOL Time Warner. Headed by former Time Warner Cable chairman and CEO Joseph Collins, the unit will focus in the short term on video-on-demand services, but also will work with Samsung to "develop and market a next-generation AOLTV set-top box," the company says.

The launch comes a week after Time Warner cable competitor Cablevision announced it would roll out interactive television on Sony set-top boxes in New York beginning in September. And it's only been a month since Microsoft bought a 5% share of USA Networks Inc., saying the two will launch an interactive Travel Channel that'll show vacation trips viewers could order through their TVs.

Some analysts predict that interactive TV sets will eclipse the computer as the front-end device of choice for U.S. consumers by 2004.