Cable company NTL is poised to sign deals with Barclays Bank,
Airtours, Universal Studios and the Press Association to offer consumers
home shopping, banking and entertainment through its TV-based
interactive service.
NTL claims NTL Interactive, which launches next March, will be the first
interactive TV-based service to reach the consumer. It is in discussions
with another 100 companies, 35 of which, including British Airways, The
Guardian, Alliance & Leicester, IPC and Great Universal Stores, are also
close to signing deals.
The service offers access to the internet via a television, using a
remote control to navigate around web sites. NTL claims that by adopting
internet standard software, it will be one of the only services which
allows partners to leverage their investment in existing web sites
without having to undergo costly rewrites.
Jeremy Thorp, managing director of NTL Interactive, said: ’As the first
company to launch an interactive service, we have attracted the interest
of a variety of companies keen to test new concepts such as interactive
advertising. However, we haven’t done exclusive deals in sectors because
research tells us consumers want the choice of at least six or seven
suppliers.’
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