Overview Of UK Digital TV Services

Once again we give a knowledgeable nod to Abi Spurling, new media "she-fox" at the BBC for issue 34 of Newsbytes with this overview of the UK's digital TV services:

Digital Terrestrial - ONdigital (110,000 subscribers) From Friday 28th May, customers subscribing to ONdigital's service for a year walked away with a free settop box, no connection charge and 40% off standard BT telephone calls. The "1 month" deal, announced three days after Sky's (see below), also offers existing ONdigital subscribers free access to their current TV package until January 2002. At the same time the company revealed their interactive services, which include email, will start in September. The applications, built in either MHEG or MediaHighway, will lay the foundations for a more sophisticated service planned for next year.

Digital Satellite - Sky Digital (551,000 subscribers - 170,000 new) Customers wishing to subscribe to digital satellite for a year can expect similar treatment from Sky Digital. Like ONdigital, BSkyB are also offering free digital decoders and subsidised phone calls although they are still charging a £40 installation fee. Sky who announced the deal ahead of ONdigital at the beginning of May had already sold 40,000 subscriptions after just two days. The broadcaster also confirmed customers can expect to see interactive TV enhancements for its sports and movie channels by August. These services, separate from those offered by Open, are being developed by Sky's Interactive Programme Unit.

Digital Cable Both NTL and Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) are launching digital TV services in their "main" franchises during July. Both operators are planning to have all their areas covered by the end of this year. The remaining operator, Telewest, hopes to have its digital TV services running in ALL its franchises by December. All three companies will be offering extensive interactive services including "walled garden" Internet access; email; and near- video-on-demand. NTL launched their interactive service last month as part of their TV Internet package - analogue TV settop with integrated Internet access software.

Open to launch interactive services Subscribers to Sky Digital will soon be able to shop at home via Open's interactive service. Open, which includes an email service, has announced it will launch sometime over the summer. The service, which was on show at the Cable & Satellite Show at Earls Court, enables TV viewers to create "meal" menus and request the ingredients be delivered to their front door. So far Open has secured content partnerships with WH Smith (books), Going Places (travel), PA (music, film and sport), Abbey National/HSBC (banking), Somerfield (shopping) and Yellow Pages (hotel restaurant listings). Sky Digital offers 75 channels of PPV From mid-July Sky Digital will increase its channels offering PPV movies from 48 to 75. This means roughly 25 films will start every hour on the service instead of the current 15. The service, an expansion of the existing Sky Box Office, will be available to all Sky Digital customers.

Microsoft ploughs into UK cable Having already invested in one UK cable operator NTL, Microsoft have gone on to buy a third of another, Telewest. It is also believed the company is in similar talks with Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC). Although the three have chosen the software for their interactive services, its is likely these will change as a result of the Microsoft deals. This has already happened in the States with AT&T, whose digital cable set-tops are now running on MS CE following Microsoft's £3 billion investment.

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