TECHNOLOGY - Aug. 20, 1992

And Now, the Mall Channel: J. C. Penney Co., GTE Corp. and Capital Cities/ABC Inc. have formed a joint venture to beam computer data, television and sound to shopping malls across the nation. The network will offer retailers music throughout their stores, ABC videos on television and a computer network that can be used for check and credit card approvals. The partners plan to have the Advanced Retail Communications network up and running next year. The network will be made up of satellites of GTE Spacenet and J. C. Penney and the Dallas-based retailer’s land network. Capital Cities/ABC, parent of the ABC television network, will offer programming for the venture.