Ideal World picks NTL Broadcast’s new IP streaming product

NTL Broadcast has announced a new IP streaming service designed to maximise audiences and revenues for digital television channels from broadband Internet users, and that shopping channel Ideal World is first to take advantage of the new service.
The package is also designed to suit new entrants with limited financial and technical resources, allowing low start-up costs and flexible options. A customer with a broadband Internet connection can view the broadcast feed from the channel owner’s website, using either Windows Media or RealPlayer.
Now that over five million homes in the UK have broadband, broadcasters and channel providers are increasingly regarding the Internet as a viable distribution platform. Paul Wright, CEO of Ideal Shopping Direct plc, said: “Streaming our channels over the worldwide web has always been an integral part of our plans to ensure we maximise our reach to the widest of audiences. We are now on cable, satellite, terrestrial and broadband, meaning that our channel can be accessed almost anywhere.”
Product Manager for satellite and playout services at NTL Broadcast, Drew Hosie, added: “NTL Broadcast has a strong reputation for delivering content in a reliable and cost-effective way, and this allows us to offer our customers another valuable revenue stream – whatever the size or genre of their channel. People now spend a significant portion of the time that they would have spent watching television surfing the Internet, so a streamed service naturally complements a traditional broadcast offering.”
(GB)