Two Way TV and Zone4Play are planning to launch two interactive fixed-odds gaming channels on UK cable television.
The two interactive channels will be called The Winner Channel and The Roulette Channel.
The Winner Channel will feature a range of fixed odds formats, with a headline jackpot of £500,000. There will also be a loyalty scheme allowing users to accumulate points that can be exchanged for cash and prizes.
Zone4Play is providing the technology platform for the channels. Idan Miller of Zone4Play said: “Interactive betting has proven to be the most successful genre of applications on iTV in the UK and internationally. As well as a first for UK Cable, this also marks Zone4Play’s first deployment of our end to end technology platform in the UK.”
The two companies already run the play4fun casino service, currently on ntl and Telewest within the Two Way TV Games Channel, featuring games such as poker, roulette and blackjack.
Guy Templer, commercial director of Two Way TV, said: “We have been running fantasy casino-style games for the last year and these have proved remarkably popular, so creating real betting services is a natural extension for us. Digital cable TV is virgin territory for these types of service and we believe that there is significant unmet demand”.
Eric Tveter, president and chief operating officer of Telewest Broadband, added: “This is an exciting new genre of content for us and we’re keen to give our viewers cutting edge interactivity. Together with Two Way TV and ntl we are making maximum use of the ‘always on’ connection and the multiplayer capability of cable set top boxes.”