America Online, Dulles, VA, yesterday said it would begin selling limited quantities of its interactive television box and service — dubbed AOLTV — at retail stores beginning the second week of July.
The boxes will be available in only Phoenix, Sacramento, Baltimore and five other undisclosed cities at Circuit City electronic stores and through AOL itself.
AOLTV set-tops will be manufactured and distributed by Philips Electronics and will be priced at $250 for the box itself and $24.95 for the service. In a move to further secure at least some of its 23 million Internet services customers, the company will offer current customers the I-TV service for a discounted $14.95 a month — on top of what they are already paying for the internet connection.
The AOLTV package will be available nationally for the Christmas shopping rush, at which time a second AOLTV box featuring the personal digital recording service TiVo will also be made available.
