On-Line Guide to TV Viewing Offered by Upstart Company ------------------------------------------------------ By Stacy Lu Sept. 16, 1996 Maybe the expected convergence of television and the Internet is years away. But there is now another sign that it is likely to occur -- namely, the creation of a personalized on-line television viewing guide. The Gist, the first product of Gist Communications Inc. in New York, made its debut last week with Web listings, reviews and articles, as well as television program listings. The site (www.thegist.com) uses software called TV1 to offer customized television schedules. Users enter their choices of channels, subject matter and viewing times, and instantly receive a lineup for the following week. TV1, which was acquired by Gist Communications on June 1, already existed on a Web site. It had 90,000 registered users who have been transferred to Gist. Gist will use the demographic information from the users of the free service to attract advertisers, which so far include NBC, which is a unit of the General Electric Company; Infoseek, an on-line search service, and Freeloader, a Web browser service owned by Individual Inc. ''This is the formula people think of as the future of the Net,'' said Jonathan Greenberg, chairman and editor of Gist Communications. ''One, we give people a reason to register. Two, we have an advertiser base that matches user interests. Three, we have the largest community in the world: TV viewers.'' Of course, most of the television community has not yet made it to the Web, but Mr. Greenberg is not concerned. ''Of those who have Internet access, they all watch television,'' he said. ''That's probably the one thing they all have in common.'' The site features daily program reviews and picks Web highlights, though on a more modest scale than its television guide. It classifies its offbeat Web selections as ''Hilarious'' -- Friday's section featured jokes about dentists from the ''Dental Crypt'' -- ''Dazzling'' or ''Obscure.'' Rounding out the site's content as well as its advertising feasibility are articles on entertainment, home technology and media. According to Mr. Greenberg, Gist Communications is negotiating to offer its product through a commercial on-line service, and will soon announce an agreement to share its technology with one of the nation's largest media companies, which he would not identify. Gist Communications is backed by Neptuno G.m.b.H., a subsidiary of Sal. Oppenheim Jr. & Compagnie, a private bank based in Cologne, Germany. Neptuno's initial investment was several million dollars. Mr. Greenberg believes the existence of Gist Communications, let alone its success, is inevitable. ''This is how you're going to get your home entertainment information in three to five years,'' he said. ''Eventually, there will be a single monitor, and you'll be able to switch back and forth between television and the Internet. ''At that stage, you're probably going to be programming a lot of information on your home computer. Your menu is not going to be the 40 channels we give you today, your menu is going to be thousands of choices, and you're not going to read a telephone book to find out what's on at 8 o'clock.''