Compuserve Agrees To Accept Advertising

CompuServe, pressed to lower subscription rates and meet competition from Internet access companies, in October will become the last of the major on-line services to accept advertising.

The decision announced Friday may upset some subscribers to CompuServe, many of whom were familiar with computers long before the home PC craze of the 1990s.

But advertising will reduce the Columbus, Ohio-based company’s reliance on subscription fees at a time when competition is forcing those charges down.

A spokesman for CompuServe said advertising would take the form of “buttons” on menu pages. By clicking on the button, a person could collect information on the advertiser.