Welsh firm to break IPTV boundaries

A Welsh firm is looking to steal a march on competitors both nationally and internationally by launching a service which lets viewers watch any television channel in the world over the internet.

Inuk, of Abercynon, is pioneering its new IPTV technology on UK students, letting them use their televisions or laptops to watch digital channels appearing by Freeview over the internet.

This convergent technology means that internet service providers, broadcasters and producers will thus have the chance to provide television content that will reach new audiences, potentially situated all over the world.

It could also ensure that, when analogue TV signals are switched off in the coming years, viewers who might have difficulty switching over to a digital service can carry on as before using their broadband connection.

Inuk's chief executive, Marcus Liassides, told the Western Mail: "We are on target to launch the service next spring, providing all the current free to air channels and then offering subscription channels in September.

"We are also targeting many of the 300 internet service providers who are aware that they are going to need to provide IPTV to maintain market share in what is an extremely competitive marketplace."

All universities are to be offered their own IPTV channels, while nationwide education and research network Janet will provide the platform for some three million students to test the new services.

track