Full Service Network - Definition

Full Service Network was a digital video trial performed by Time Warner in Orlando, Florida which launched on December 14, 1994 and lasted for 18 months. During that time, 4,000 customers had free access to the interactive digital system, which included a selection of custom services for video-on-demand, shopping, games, program guide and US Postal Service functions.

Technology partners in the venture included some high profile vendors.

• Silicon Graphics
• AT&T
• Scientific-Atlanta
• Andersen Consulting

Investors in the system at the time included Time-Warner Inc., US West, Toshiba and ITOCHU (the world's largest trading group).

It was deemed an expensive failure because of the high cost of set-top boxes, which were SGI Indy workstations with turnkey software, connected using ATM networking. The rise of the Internet also rendered many of the shopping and online services obsolete.

See also: interactive television

External links

• FSN summary (http://www.ust.hk/~webiway/content/USA/Trial/fsn.html)
• Interview with Jim Ludington, vice president of technology, FSN (http://www.networkcomputing.com/616/616tw.html)