Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc is gearing up to launch a television service called Supercast that broadcasts Internet data to personal computers along with audio and video television signals. Sinclair, America’s seventh-largest broadcast company, will transmit the digital information over the vertical blanking interval, the area of the television frequency usually used to carry closed captions. Intel Corp’s Intercast broadcast uses the vertical blanking interval to broadcast Internet data as well. Both companies, in fact, use data-encoding technology from Norpak Inc in Canada. While Intel targets the home audience with promises of Internet-enhanced television on the personal computer, Sinclair plans to use Supercast for high-speed Internet access. And while Intercast is still limited to the Netscape Communications Corp Navigator, Supercast can use any browser. Sinclair’s Net TV will work with computers that have a broadcast modem, either an antenna or cable that hooks via a modem to personal computers through a slot.
