ONdigital to launch Internet service this fall
Dubbed "ONnet," the service will give ONdigital's subscribers broadband Internet access via their TV sets, using set-tops from Netgem, a French-based developer of Internet access technology over TV. ONdigital is working with a number of content partners to make its programs and ads interactive through "cross-linking," allowing subscribers to click straight through to supporting Web sites.
ONdigital also announced that its subscriber base increased 15 percent in the latest quarter to a total of 774,000, putting the company within reach of its goal of one million subscribers by the end of the year. ONdigital, the UK's only digital terrestrial broadcast service, was launched in 1998.
The company is forecasting a significant boost in the sales of integrated DTV sets in the UK now that they all come preloaded with six primary ONdigital channels. For those sets that do not have ONdigital's conditional access built in, ONdigital will provide a module, little more than the size of a credit card, to deliver ONdigital's channels. The ONdigital Conditional Access Module (CAM) will be available as soon as final tests are completed.
Edited by Tom Butts