Video Networks, the company behind the UK IPTV service, HomeChoice (note: until this year, the latter was one of only two pay-TV services in the UK to offer VOD), is teaming with UK government-funded community association, The Shoreditch Trust, to bring an innovative IPTV service to residents of two council estates ("housing projects," in US parlance) in Shoreditch, a neighborhood in London's East End. Dubbed the Shoreditch Digital Bridge (SDB), the new service will initially be rolled out early next year on a trial basis to 1,000 residents of the Haberdasher and Charles Square Estates, before being rolled out to the remaining 20,000 residents of those estates.
In addition to HomeChoice's standard TV and telephony service (which includes 55 channels, VOD, and free evening and weekend calls), the SDB will provide 1) a community safety channel that will allow residents to use their TV sets to monitor the housing estate's CCTV cameras, view a line-up of local residents who are considered potential troublemakers (i.e. who are the subjects of Anti-Social Behavior Orders), and receive live community safety alerts; 2) an education channel that will allow children and adults to take classes, complete online homework assignments, and log on to "virtual tutors"; 3) a health channel that will allow patients to book doctor's appointments, and that will provide virtual doctor/nurse consultations and online health and diagnosis information; 4) a consumer channel that will allow online group buying of services such as gas, electricity and mobile phone tariffs; 5) an employment channel that will offer online NVQ courses, a Web site featuring local jobs, and virtual interview mentoring; and 6) a "PC-on-TV" service, designed to give residents who do not own PC's access to such services as email and word processing. Residents will also have the option of upgrading to HomeChoice's premium programming packages and its broadband Internet service (provides speeds of up to 8 Mbps).
The project is supported by funds from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, and is designed to help fulfill a pledge by Prime Minister, Tony Blair, that all UK households will have broadband access by 2008. "Video Networks is committed to driving digital TV and broadband take-up," Video Networks chairman and CEO, Roger Lynch, said in a prepared statement. "Our partnership with the Shoreditch Digital Bridge not only provides an affordable solution for those who do not have access to a PC or are unable to afford the current multichannel TV products on the market, it also helps the government with its plans to deliver public services electronically and ensuring that everyone has access to the online economy. We hope this initiative will form a blueprint for similar partnerships across the UK."
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