Apsattv
08-12-2007, 01:44 AM
From http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2007/dec/06/television.digitaltvradio?gusrc=rss&feed=media
Freeview is planning to launch a "best of Freeview TV" service for personal video recorder owners to let viewers catch up on a selection of the most popular programmes that have aired each week.
Plans for the service, which will be outlined more fully in January, will see an as-yet-undetermined number of hours of Freeview programming pushed to personal video recorders.
"It is about giving people value, giving them more TV in a way," said Ilse Howling, the general manager at Freeview.
"We want to give people the kind of content they want to watch because many people miss programmes."
Howling added that the service was one of the first examples of how the digital terrestrial television service will aim to offer more sophisticated products, having achieved huge growth in the UK in recent years.
These could include having full video-on-demand options for Freeview through the initially internet-only based project Kangaroo, a joint venture between the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.
Howling said that BT Vision provided a "pathfinder" model for what would be possible in the future. BT Vision offers Freeview TV services and full VoD content via a broadband connection.
Talks with companies including Orange's yet-to-launch TV service and Setanta, among others, over new Freeview services will begin next year.
"We have an incredibly powerful installed base where we are the primary TV set or the second or the third set and that provides a powerful basis as a springboard for how Freeview evolves," Howling added.
Freeview estimates that retail sales - those not including direct purchases from manufacturers - of Freeview Playback, its set-top box plus PVR, are at around 225,000.
According to the latest Ofcom figures, at the end of June there were 9.14m Freeview-only digital TV homes in the UK.
Freeview is planning to launch a "best of Freeview TV" service for personal video recorder owners to let viewers catch up on a selection of the most popular programmes that have aired each week.
Plans for the service, which will be outlined more fully in January, will see an as-yet-undetermined number of hours of Freeview programming pushed to personal video recorders.
"It is about giving people value, giving them more TV in a way," said Ilse Howling, the general manager at Freeview.
"We want to give people the kind of content they want to watch because many people miss programmes."
Howling added that the service was one of the first examples of how the digital terrestrial television service will aim to offer more sophisticated products, having achieved huge growth in the UK in recent years.
These could include having full video-on-demand options for Freeview through the initially internet-only based project Kangaroo, a joint venture between the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.
Howling said that BT Vision provided a "pathfinder" model for what would be possible in the future. BT Vision offers Freeview TV services and full VoD content via a broadband connection.
Talks with companies including Orange's yet-to-launch TV service and Setanta, among others, over new Freeview services will begin next year.
"We have an incredibly powerful installed base where we are the primary TV set or the second or the third set and that provides a powerful basis as a springboard for how Freeview evolves," Howling added.
Freeview estimates that retail sales - those not including direct purchases from manufacturers - of Freeview Playback, its set-top box plus PVR, are at around 225,000.
According to the latest Ofcom figures, at the end of June there were 9.14m Freeview-only digital TV homes in the UK.