Telewest Targets Sky With PVR Set-Top Box
Cable TV provider Telewest Broadband has put itself head to head with satellite superpower Sky with the creation of a dedicated cable personal video recorder, seemingly designed to tempt customers away from Sky’s premium Sky+ service.
Today’s announcement will see Telewest work with Scientific-Atlanta , who will create and supply the PVR set-top boxes, due to be available to Telewest customers later this year.
The new PVR set-top box incorporates a substantial 160Gb hard drive and three video tuners, allowing viewers to receive Telewest’s digital TV service and record two programmes simultaneously while watching a third. The new set-top box will also allow customers to pause and instantly rewind live TV if their viewing is interrupted, a feature much publicised by Sky as a selling point of its PVR device.
Telewest’s new service is operated by a simple on-screen menu, making the viewers’ experience as intuitive as possible. The broadcaster claims the new service is suitable even for the most technophobic households and, once recorded, programmes can be controlled like a DVD or video, without the hassle of tapes. The device will be able to store around 80 hours of programmes.
Telewest obviously sees PVR technology as the route to the future of digital television, with the new boxes equipped to receive high-definition TV (HDTV) content in the future. The new technology, yet to be widely employed by British broadcasters, offers a significant improvement in picture quality compared with today’s standard-definition digital TV broadcasts, especially on larger screens.
Commenting on the new product, Eric Tveter, president and chief operating officer at Telewest Broadband, said: “We will make our personal video recorder set-top box available later this year, putting a stop to missed soaps, interrupted films and arguments over which programmes to record. It’s a fantastic box of TV tricks that people will wonder how they ever survived without!”
Telewest are clearly hoping to ape the success of Sky+ with its new set-top box, although Sky’s system will be a tough act to follow. The device has received critical acclaim for its simple interface, while Sky Media’s managing director, Nick Milligan, has revealed that the service also vastly reduces churn amongst customers.
Speaking at last year’s Media Research Group conference in Madrid, Milligan revealed an overall churn rate of around 1% in Sky+ homes, compared to Sky’s standard rate of just over 9%. The broadcast boss stated that Sky hopes to have converted 25% of Sky homes into Sky Plus homes by the end of the decade (see Sky Introduces New Products At MRG Conference).
The Scientific-Atlanta agreement follows this week’s launch of the first phase of Telewest Broadband’s new TV-on-demand service, which will offer customers a choice of additional movies, TV programmes and specialist content via their remote controls (see Cable Giants Launch On-Demand TV And Movie Services).
Explaining the company’s unique mix of TV on-demand and PVR technology, Eric Tveter said: “Telewest Broadband’s unique combination of personal video recorder and television-on-demand services will mean our customers have the best of both worlds – freedom from the TV schedule with PVR control, and on-demand access to a wider selection of movies and TV content. It’s not about offering people more TV, but giving them the freedom to watch exactly what they want, when they want.”
Telewest: 0845 142 0000 www.telewest.co.uk
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