BroadbandTV Group, the joint venture between YooMedia and ICTV, is to conduct live trials of next-generation interactive television programming in selected ntl digital cable households in the UK.
The joint venture between YooMedia and ICTV was formed a year ago.
The trials will use the ICTV HeadendWare system to deliver interactive web-based programming to standard ntl cable set-top boxes.
BroadbandTV Group says it has brought together a wide-ranging interactive programming package for the live trials, covering news, entertainment, games and lifestyle genres, with partners including ITN, MTV, Emap, Turner, UKTV and Sesame Workshop.
Neil MacDonald, managing director of YooMedia, said “A huge amount of work has been undertaken with ntl in the last year in order to integrate the BroadbandTV technology with their infrastructure and various set top boxes. We are delighted to be entering into consumer-facing trials with such a strong line-up of programming content.”
Announcing interim results, YooMedia plc increased turnover for the first six months of 2005 to £48.5 million. The total turnover includes customer winnings on gambling, which paid out £11.5 million. Gross profit for the period was £5.1 million, with the group recording a pre-tax loss of £4.6 million.