Time Warner Road Runner racing here.(Time Warner Cable's Cincinnati Division; high-speed cable Internet service)

The local cable TV operator plans to enter the area's Internet access race with a high-speed service to connect Web surfers.

Time Warner Cable's Cincinnati Division has stepped up advertising for Road Runner, its high-speed cable Internet service set to launch this summer.

The move signals the beginning of what is likely to become a marketing war for the hearts and minds of local Internet subscribers. Cincinnati Bell's Zoom service, launched in October, has already signed up 5,000 users.

"It's a campaign to get customers ready for the new service," said Jennifer Mooney, vice president of public affairs for Time Warner in Cincinnati. "We're trying to create marketplace awareness."

By utilizing a cable modem that Time Warner will install in customers' homes, Road Runner will offer users Internet speeds up to 100 times faster than the 28.8 kbps modems now standard in many computers. It will make Web-based video and other data-intensive information much more accessible than it is at today's …