This fall the Sci-Fi Channel will begin incorporating online chat from a limited number of viewers while a show is being broadcast.

The chat hour is scheduled to be part of Sci-Fi's new fall lineup and will be featured during shows including The Prisoner, Twilight Zone, Lost in Space, The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman.

"We're looking for new ways to make us different," says Barry Schulman, Sci-Fi's programing vice president. He says Sci-Fi has an internal task force looking at how the cable programer can create interactive services such as trivia contests and home shopping.

Last week the channel began its first chat-rerun experiment by recruiting 25 fans of The Prisoner to chat about the episode at 3 a.m. Schulman says the cable network chose The Prisoner because it "lends itself to bizarre commentary."

The Sci-Fi Channel is working with ECHO, a New York-based bulletin board service, but Schulman says there are plans to include multiple bulletin boards from around the country. The cable channel is looking into working with bulletin board partners in San Francisco, Los Angeles and elsewhere.

"It's an experiment that begins the gradual integration of computers into television," says Schulman, adding that Sci-Fi's audience tends to be "computer literate" and oriented toward new technologies.

Sci-Fi wil invite celebrities to be involved in the chat sessions starting this fall. But first, Schulman says, the channel must secure rights to the shows it wants to incorporate into the interactive chat format.