NEXT month Hong Kong will start the first Asian trial of video down the telephone line.
The three-month technical trial in 50 homes of Hongkong Telecom employees will be followed by a three-month test in 400 households of every income band.
The guinea pigs will be offered 100 hours of films, features, children's and educational programmes, documentaries and musicals, but will still have to pay for the service.
''You pay for what you see. We are trying to gauge what people will watch or what they will pay in a real life situation,'' says HK Telecom director of multimedia services, Dr William Lo.
The company would pick 15 to 20 housing blocks and then ask about 20 households to try it out, said Dr Lo.
Prices were not yet fixed but would probably fall into three bands, with a monthly fee of between $80 and $180, and a per-view cost of $18 to $25, he said.