Compaq Computer Corp yesterday announced that it would build personal computers that implement Intel Corp’s new Pentium Intercast technology, which enables users simultaneously to watch television and to receive broadcast pages from the World Wide Web – and CompUSA Inc joined the party by saying it would carry the things, starting in Atlanta in the middle of next month for the Olympics. Another participant in the effort is General Electric Co Inc’s NBC, the Olympic broadcaster. The US Federal Communications Commission decided earlier this week to permit broadcasters to deliver Internet and television content in the same signal. Intercast uses a normally unused portion of the television signal – blanking lines, presumably – to deliver information to personal computers such as Gateway 2000 Inc.’s Destination large-screen computer with built-in television. The Intercast service will enable users to view television programming in one window while another is on the Internet.
