Mark Hamill, star of Star Wars, is appearing on television this month as host of a special edition of ".COM," exploring the world of network computers -- desktop devices that give businesspeople access to the Internet, Windows applications such as spreadsheets and word processing programs, as well as corporate information.

Hamill regularly hosts the ".COM" television series produced by TV Interactive, an independent production company. This special report will air on CNBC on July 13 at 3 p.m. ET and will be available for viewing on-demand until December through streaming video on TVI's Web site, www.tviweb.com .

The special report, which will focus on Network Computers (NCs), such as the IBM Network Station, is timely. NCs are creating a buzz because they promise to cut corporate computing costs by about 40%, according to the Gartner Group, and because they are easier to manage and operate than networked PCs, which often go under-used. Sixty-five percent of businesses surveyed by the Yankee Group plan to buy NCs within two years, and 20% of desktop clients sold in a few years will be NCs, said the Gartner Group.

"We produce the .COM series to keep our viewers in tune with rapidly changing technologies that affect their daily lives," said Ron Godfrey, executive producer. "This topic is so important, we're devoting an entire half-hour program to it. It should be required viewing for anyone involved in business computing."

".COM" is a magazine format style television program which is produced and paid for by TV Interactive, an independent production company based in Fort Lauderdale.