4 times the Olympic viewing

Oceanic is offering a new technology just in time for the Winter Olympics

WHETHER you're a fan of figure skating, skiing or even curling, this year's television coverage of the Winter Olympics from Torino, Italy, will give you it all -- and then some.

With NBC Universal offering an unprecedented 416 hours worth of coverage, Oceanic Time Warner Cable will trot out some new technology for its standard and digital cable subscribers.

For example: Digital subscribers tuned in to Channel 200 will be able to monitor four events at once, via a MultiView feature that provides a "mosaic" of four network feeds.

The feature has been available for pay-per-view of University of Hawaii football games.

"We've always been playing around with the MV technology," sales director Allan Akamine said. "We introduced it two seasons ago during UH pay-per-view, with the application where viewers could call up any specific camera angle to watch the game, so we've always been interested in creating these screens."

Programming on KHNLNBC and USA will be delayed, while CNBC and MSNBC will be live feeds. (See channel listing schedule for details.)

Viewers will also find a complete, interactive Olympics schedule and program guide, or order a free video-on-demand replay of a favorite event.

Over the 17 days of the Torino Winter Olympics, NBC Sports will provide an average of 24 1/2 hours of daily coverage on four NBC Universal networks. One of the more popular programs should be "Olympic Ice" on the USA Network, an all-access show co-hosted by the legendary -- and always opinionated -- figure-skating commentator Dick Button.

The popular Canadian skating couple from the 2002 Salt Lake games, Jamie Salé and David Pelletier, will serve as the show's analysts.

Besides figure skating, other American athletes to be featured in primetime will include Salt Lake Olympic short track star Apolo Anton Ohno, snowboarding champions Shaun White and Lindsay Jacobellis, and 2005 alpine skiing world champions Daron Rahlves and Bode Miller.

And the slow-moving -- uh, mesmerizing -- sport of curling will be featured, with 15 of 26 matches to be shown live on CNBC and USA.

DIGITAL CHOICES Winter Olympics channels available free to Oceanic Time Warner standard and digital cable subscribers, starting Friday: Channel 200: MultiView -- four screens of different networks' coverage can be viewed at the same time. Use your remote to switch to one channel full screen, launch an interactive Olympics schedule or order a free replay. Channel 201: Interactive schedule and program guide Channel 202: CNBC's 61 hours of coverage, featuring what's been called the cult hit of the Winter Olympics, curling. Channel 203: MSNBC, the "hockey channel," with 71 hours of coverage, including quarterfinal, semifinal and medal-round competition. Channel 204: NBC (local affiliate KHNL), with the marquee events, 182-1/2 hours of coverage, including the Friday's opening ceremony, figure skating, alpine skiing, speed skating, short track, snowboarding, ski jumping and freestyle skiing. Channel 205: USA Network's 101-1/2 hours of coverage, including Team USA hockey, more curling and Nordic events. Channel 206: Olympics Free on Demand offers a menu of completed events available for replay, with the option to pause, rewind and fast-forward. Channel 207: High Definition NBC Universal, simulcasts programming from CNBC, MSNBC and USA. Channel 208: High Definition NBC (KHNL), simulcasts of broadcast network coverage. Channel 209: Interactive promotional offerings by Hawaii merchants sponsoring local coverage of the Olympics. UPGRADE To upgrade from basic cable to digital, call 643-2337 or visit www.oceanic.com.