Telewest Completes First Phase Of On-Demand Roll Out
Telewest’s first foray into on-demand TV services has begun, with the company launching its Teleport product to over 26,000 customers in Cheltenham and Gloucester today, offering viewers the chance to create their own programme schedules, picking content to watch as and when it suits them.
Today’s roll out marks the first phase of the company’s on-demand development strategy, which is designed to extend the new technology’s reach to more than a million customers by early next year.
Following the launch of Telewest’s movies-on-demand service in Bristol earlier this year (see Cable Giants Launch On-Demand TV And Movie Services), the new service extends access beyond film content to encompass TV programmes, while maintaining DVD-style control, such as fast forward, rewind and pause functionality.
The Teleport service is accessed via customers’ existing set-top box and remote control, using a simple on-screen menu to select from a choice of viewing menus. Teleport Movies offers around 200 current and library films from FilmFlex, costing between £2 and £3.50 for a 24-hour rental period; Teleport Replay provides a second chance to catch popular programmes from the previous week, such as Eastenders and Casualty; and Teleport Life offers specialist interest programmes.
The company will add classic BBC series soon, including Inspector Morse and Waking the Dead, as well as offering music videos on a subscription basis.
Customers already subscribing to Telewest’s top digital TV package will have most elements of the new service included at no extra cost, such as access to entire TV series.
Explaining the move, Eric Tveter, president and chief operating officer of Telewest, said: “Teleport has arrived and it’s genuinely going to change the way people watch TV. The schedule normally dictates viewing, but our customers will have the choice and convenience of a service they can tailor – it’s TV on their terms.”
Telewest has already secured content from a wide range of providers including Filmflex, the BBC, Flextech, Discovery Networks Europe, National Geographic Channel Europe, Nickelodeon, Jetix (formerly Fox Kids) and Playboy TV. The BBC agreement will initially provide over 180 hours of documentaries, natural history, drama, light entertainment and children’s programmes (see Telewest Signs Content Providers To On Demand Service).
The roll out of on-demand services forms part of Telewest’s £20 million investment in advanced television products for 2005. Amongst the new technology looming on the horizon is MPEG4 encoding, currently being trialed by rival cable operator ntl, which promises to deliver high-definition content over a standard broadband connection (see New Technology Promises Higher Quality IPTV).
Telewest: 0845 142 0000 www.telewest.co.uk