ITV, UK's Top Commercial Broadcaster, Extends Contract With Narrowstep(TM) to Continue Broadband TV Service Using TelVOS(TM)
January 19 2006 - 11:24AM
PR Newswire (US)
LONDON and NEW YORK, Jan. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Narrowstep(TM) Inc (OTC:NRWS) (BULLETIN BOARD: NRWS) , the TV on
the Internet Company, announced that ITV, the UK's top, and
Europe's second largest commercial broadcaster, has extended its
contract with the Company until April 16, 2006. As a result, ITV
will continue using Narrowstep's proprietary technology,
TelVOS(TM), to broadcast its new local broadband TV service
http://www.itvlocal.tv/. ITV first signed Narrowstep in October
2005 to test TelVOS(TM), its Television Operating System, in order
to offer Brighton and Hastings their local news, weather, community
activities, travel and other ITV entertainment. With the expansion
of the trial, Narrowstep has increased its services to ITV by
creating a further four channels on the site with the inclusion of
Teachers' TV, Brighton Property, Regional news and weather and the
Upload Channel for advertising for local businesses and individuals
which will be revenue generating. Now ITV has expanded ITV Local to
cover the whole of the South and Southeast UK and for the first
time, all three editions of "Meridian Tonight" and the local
weather forecasts are free to view for anybody with a computer and
a broadband connection by logging onto http://www.itvlocal.tv/.
Lindsay Charlton, ITV Meridian's Managing Director said, "This is
the first time in 50 years that an ITV region has provided news and
feature programming 24 hours a day to the entire region. We're also
giving our viewers the opportunity to create their own programming
and we think there is an enormous appetite for this service.
Friends and family can catch up with their own region wherever they
are in the world thanks to the Internet and broadband technology."
Iolo Jones CEO of Narrowstep commented, "By empowering consumers to
upload their own video adverts or home videos, ITV Local is not
only developing new revenue streams through classified advertising,
but also building loyal audiences who for the first time in TV
history can directly influence and control what they watch on TV.
The fact that ITV has extended the contract period, and the
functionality to its audience, is a strong and welcome testament to
TelVOS(TM). We are delighted to partner with ITV in providing this
unique service." The free broadband channel has received
significant interest not just in the UK, but throughout Europe and
further abroad with statistics showing that many viewers watch ITV
Local for more than an hour at a time. In the short time since the
start of the trial, over 10,000 individuals per week in the
Brighton and Hastings area have been using the service. ITV has
extended the contract with Narrowstep following extensive technical
testing by Narrowstep to allow the project team to refine the
consumer proposition and give the local community a lengthened
period of time to interact with the site. Users of ITV Local will
now be able to submit video material from their own computers. Over
the past three years, Narrowstep has been working to develop the
highest quality broadband services with broadcasters, ISPs, cable
companies, government departments, entertainment and sports
organizations, and currently has over 70 active channels. Media
Enquiries for Narrowstep, please contact Andria Allan, Director of
PR, on +44 (0) 207 731 4242; mobile: 07810 283098. E-mail: About
Narrowstep(TM) Inc Narrowstep(TM) Inc currently offers the most
powerful media platform for global broadband content delivery. Our
Television Operating System TelVOS(TM) is a comprehensive platform
for managing, organizing, scheduling, playing out and
commercializing video content. Our customers' broadband channels
are available 24/7 from anywhere in the world and can be delivered
to multiple devices such as mobile, broadcast service, wireless and
over the Internet. Narrowstep is a listed company in the US with
the ticker symbol NRWS on the OTC Bulletin Board and has offices in
London and New York. For more information, visit
www.narrowstep.com. DATASOURCE: Narrowstep Inc CONTACT: Andria
Allan, Director of PR of Narrowstep, +44 (0) 207 731 4242, or
mobile, 07810 283098, Web site: http://www.narrowstep.com/
http://www.itvlocal.tv/
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