• The New York Times, Monday, June 16, 2008 10:30 AM

An ambitious effort to take interactive television into American homes is expanding after a test of the system began in Boston last month. Backchannel has added two stations: WMUR in Manchester, N.H., a Hearst-Argyle station and an ABC affiliate; and WJAR in Providence, R.I., an NBC affiliate that is owned by Media General.

Backchannel executives are trying to persuade other stations around the country to join the test. Linking TV and the Internet represents "a huge shift from how stations operate today," says Michael Kokernak, Backchannel chief. The test is similar to the efforts being undertaken by six large cable system operators via Canoe Ventures, which just hired David Verklin as chief executive.

For years, interactive TV has been a holy grail to Madison Avenue.

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