BATTLE FOR REMOTE CONTROL

For more than a decade, Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival has celebrated the latest trends in American independent filmmaking. It was thus a sign of the times that at this year's screenings, the talk was not only about actors, directors and hip new movies, but also about the information superhighway. Gathered in Park City, Utah, in January, the Beautiful People heard the experts talk about two-way media, explored online services and debated the merits of CD-ROM technology. ``It's going to be like a geologic upheaval,'' Redford said. ``We're going to have to sit and watch as the pirates of the high seas lock ships and duke it out.''

Indeed we shall -- and indeed we are, for the battle is already well under way. Seldom have the opportunities for riches seemed so great, or the risks of failure so daunting, as in today's rush to profit from the information revolution. It is a contest that goes beyond who will build and control two- way TV, toward a fundamental reshaping of the communications, information and entertainment industries.

There are technical issues aplenty, such as whether the computer or the television -- or some hybrid -- will be the main electronic link to the home of the 21st century. But the more tantalizing question is just how the information titans will make their money. Spurred by forecasts that the worldwide market for everything from movies on demand to electronic shopping malls could reach $1 trillion within a decade, top corporate strategists are still debating whether they will profit most by distributing digital data, by owning it or by some combination of the two.

``Many corporate and personal fortunes will be won -- and lost,'' says Joseph Kraemer, who follows the communications and electronics industries for EDS Management Consulting Services in Washington. ``The phrase bet the company will be used more often, and with more passion and much more accuracy, than at any other time since World War II.''

Chief among the combatants are the telephone and cable giants that are building rival versions of the information highway. One of these is Bell Atlantic, which plans to spend $11 billion on fiber-optic cable and other equipment to bring two-way TV to 8 million homes by the year 2000. Another is Time Warner, which is neck and neck with TeleCommunications Inc. in the race to be the nation's largest cable company. Time Warner is teaming with U S West to test its notion of a state-of-the-art system in Orlando, Florida, as part of a $5 billion effort to build what the company calls its Full Service Network.

Also jockeying for position are innumerable hardware, software and electronics companies that provide the components for the information highway. They range from giants like Intel, Microsoft, AT&T and IBM to countless smaller companies, some of which may emerge as tomorrow's giants. Dozens of suppliers stand to rake in billions of dollars over the next five years as the telephone and cable companies construct their systems.