NTL launches............................................
March 31, 1999 12:52
-NTL: NTL Launches UK's first interactive TV service
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M2 PRESSWIRE-31 March 1999-NTL: NTL Launches UK's first interactive TV service (C)1994-99 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD
From 31 March 1999, NTL delivers the country's first interactive TV (iTV) service on schedule, offering a comprehensive selection of home shopping, news, sport, travel and local information sources to viewers across the nation. The revolutionary iTV service is backed by a number of leading retail and online information providers, including Tesco, ITN, Flextech, Sporting Life, Thomson Directories and BBC Worldwide's online division beeb.com.
The gateway to the iTV service will initially be available over NTL's TV-Internet set- top box. The interactive channels will also soon be offered via digital cable and digital terrestrial TV. TV viewers will be able to buy CDs, books, flights and groceries online, as well as keeping right up-to-date with the latest national and international news, sport information, film/music reviews and gossip at the push of a button. The service has been designed to be simple and intuitive to use, and retains a 'televisual' appeal - viewers can even continue to watch TV while shopping for up- to-the-minute bargains.
Jeremy Thorp, group managing director of NTL Digital Services says: "I'm delighted that we have fulfilled our promise to bring the first interactive TV Service to the UK and we're very excited by the challenges that lie ahead as we roll out on digital TV platforms in the coming months. We have built a solid foundation, backed by experienced, big-name content partners, on which we will develop the most comprehensive service available.
"What we're offering to new-media entrants and established players who wish to market their products and services through interactive TV set-top boxes is an end- to-end service, from design to delivery. The engine is now up and running with 42 partners and brands already signed up and many more to be added in the coming months. Compared to our competitors, and partly due to our use of Internet standards, NTL's iTV service offers fast, inexpensive entry to the exciting world of interactive TV."
Multiple platforms (over TV-Internet, digital cable and digital terrestrial TV) and national coverage put NTL in a unique position to reach directly into many millions of homes via the TV set. No other interactive service can offer such an extensive reach, and the ability for businesses to 'widen their net'.
"This is a new route to new markets," adds Jeremy Thorp, "and visionary businesses are already sitting up, taking notice and joining in."
NTL's interactive services will be available from 31 March 1999, and will feature Entertainment, News, Sport, Travel, Local and Shopping channels. Several more, including dedicated Games and Knowledge - an education channel - will follow in the months ahead.
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. NTL Interactive, provider of the best in TV-based on-line services to the home, is offering a unique opportunity to businesses in the UK - a market reach of many millions of homes via three different TV platforms: analogue TV, digital terrestrial TV, and the medium most suited to interactivity, digital cable TV. Because NTL Interactive's technology is based on established Internet standards, businesses will find it quick, easy and inexpensive to market their services to millions of homes via the TV set throughout the UK. NTL Interactive's technology platform is backed by some of the world's leading IT companies, including: Microsoft, Compaq and ICL.
2. NTL Incorporated is the UK's leading integrated communications company, offering alternative telecommunications solutions, broadcast and transmission services. NTL is a NASDAQ and EASDAQ listed public company, with over 10,000 employees and its head office in Farnborough, Hampshire. Capabilities within NTL centre on its 'Digital TeleNetwork; the only national fibre- optic network in the UK with the high capacity necessary to deliver multiple services to business and residential customers, including telecommunications, Internet services, mobile radio communications, international satellite links and visual communications. NTL operates the UK's third-largest cable telephony and television company under the CableTel brand. During 1998, NTL acquired ComTel, Diamond Cable and Comcast UK's Teesside and Cambridge franchises, growing the customer base to a potential 5.2 million households; some 25% of all UK homes. NTL provides transmission and broadcast services for the whole of ITV, Channel 4, S4C, Channel 5 and most UK independent radio stations. NTL is a shareholder in SDN, one of the Digital Terrestrial Television multiplexes and Digital One, the UK's only national Digital Radio consortium. NTL is at the forefront of digital broadcast and telecommunications development, ensuring NTL customers benefit from digital technology, including digital cable, TV Internet access and one of the world's most advanced interactive services.
CONTACT: Bruce Randall, NTL Tel: +44 (0)1962 822582 WWW: ntl.com Lee Nugent/Antonia Graham, Nelson Bostock Communications Tel: +44 (0)171 229 4400
*M2 COMMUNICATIONS DISCLAIMS ALL LIABILITY FOR INFORMATION PROVIDED WITHIN M2 PRESSWIRE. DATA SUPPLIED BY NAMED PARTY/PARTIES.*
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