ONdigital Unveils Interactive Television Launch Plans
ONdigital has unveiled the plans and launch date for its internet service, ONnet. From September 18 full internet access will be available via television sets for £5 per month. Included in this cost will be a cordless keyboard, net top box, video and voice grab email and picture in picture options. The service is expected to be a persuasive factor in increasing people’s uptake of online spending opportunities, by linking the internet with the familiar and popular leisure activity of watching television.
Perhaps mindful of the problems encountered by AltaVista in trying to provide unmetered access (see AltaVista Blames BT For Stalling On Free Internet Service), ONdigital has not only made an agreement with BT, but is also charging for time spent online- 1p per minute off-peak and 2p per minute at all other times.
Stuart Prebble, chief executive at ONdigital says, “For those not comfortable with using computers ONnet is simple and easy to use. And it doesn’t require spending hundreds of pounds on a PC.”
Prebble’s view is backed by Mike Godliman, director of Verdict Research, who says, “Television, unlike PCs, is almost universal in UK households and is a more suitable platform than the PC for delivering interactive services to consumers. People are much more familiar and relaxed with television than with personal computers. They can buy goods as they watch their favourite programmes in their living rooms rather than having to go to a separate room where their PC is stationed.”
Unlike Open, the interactive television service part owned by BSkyB (see Interactive TV Launches In The UK), ONnet will not be a “walled garden”. When first logging on, users will be taken to a portal which will carry the sites of a variety of “household names”, but if they then wish to they can surf the entire net, set parental controls on language or content and carry out secure transactions due to an encryption system. Functionality also allows users to click through from programmes and advertisements to connected websites as they watch television.
Godliman is confident that this sort of technology will have an important role in the future of advertising and retailing: “We forecast that by 2005 there will be 14 million digital TV shoppers and one-third of all online shopping transactions will be through the TV, worth £4bn.” he says.
The launch of the package, which will be available from electronic retailers, via the ONdigital website and as part of a prepaid ONdigital package with a digital set top box and channel subscriptions, will be backed by an £8 million advertising campaign.
ONdigital: 020 7819 8000