Some 550,000 Charter Communications cable customers can use their cable TV remote controls to access screens of information about Delta Vacations, Continental Airlines Vacations and clikVacations.com -- all provided by Certified Vacations Group.

Although the consumer TV shopping experience is interactive, booking is done over the telephone.

Worldspan and Certified Vacations Group developed this iTV travel application in partnership with Digeo, which provides home entertainment platforms and services to network operators. The travel application became part of the Digeo Basic iTV line-up.

The packages promoted on Charter Communications include air, hotel, ground transportation and entertainment options. They are marketed around weekly themes, including Fun in the Sun, Mountain Adventures and Casino Values.

Worldspan also is conducting an iTV trial with AT&T Broadband in Tacoma, Wash.

Neil Bainton, Worldspan vice president of e-commerce worldwide, acknowledged that that there are hurdles to widespread iTV adoption because there are not enough of the so-called thick set-top boxes in homes that would enable true interactivity, including booking capability.

In the next three to five years, however, iTV could be "a significant part of the travel business" in the U.S., Bainton predicted.