BT Vision plans investment in applications

chris

IPTV WORLD FORUM – LONDON: BT Vision is to expand the number of applications broadcast on the IPTV platform. Addressing a Microsoft-hosted dinner chief executive Dan Marks emphasised the personalisation and two-way capabilities of the platform.

“We’re going to build a personalised TV service that brings together the things you do in your study on a PC with some of the things that you do in the living room. We are able to hold a lot of content and open up a TV connection between home and the world. Once you do that television changes,” he said. Expanding on his theme Marks said this centred around transactions based on content, including both gaming and teleshopping. “Over the next 12 months we are going to make a significant investment in applications that can sit on the platform and be interrogated by the viewer allowing them to do those things.”

Last week Deutsche Telecom, which also uses the Microsoft Mediaroom technology, announced a significant expansion in the applications it offers.

Since the service officially launched in June 2007 BT Vision has grown its subscriber base to in excess of 210,000. Marks said the numbers were in line with the two to three million-subscriber estimate “in the medium term”.