CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Marking what it believes is a credit union first using interactive TV, the $150 million Charlotte Metro Credit Union disclosed today it has been testing a 30-second interactive ad on Time Warner Cable stations in which viewers hit a special remote to view a longer Charlotte Metro commercial.

"We approached Time Warner back in July about the idea of getting the viewer to use this remote to switch to our commercial on a digital channel and so far we're quite pleased with the results," said Nathan Tothrow, CMCU marketing director.

The test, which began in September and will continue next month, utilizes a screen overlay requiring viewers to push a button on their Time Warner cable boxes that takes them to the CMCU digital channel. This channel broadcasts a seven-minute history of CMCU and a discussion of bank/CU differences.