New entertainment services

Television on your terms
The roll out of our next generation television service accelerated during the financial year – at 31 March 2008, we had 214,000 active BT Vision customers. Usage is growing and our subscribers are watching on average one on-demand programme a day.
     BT Vision – ‘Television on your terms’ – does not require a regular monthly subscription. It provides a ‘pay as you watch’ option. The service is delivered via a set-top box – the V-box –through which customers can access up to 40 free digital TV and 30 free radio channels and pay-per-view services from our content providers. These include some of the industry’s top names and, in 2008, we signed an agreement with CBS Paramount International TV to access their extensive entertainment archive. Since the beginning of the 2007/08 season, BT Vision customers have also had access to live FA Premiership and Scottish Premier League football and to a selection of terrestrial programmes released in the previous week. In March 2008, BT Vision was offering more hours of on-demand programmes than any other UK digital TV provider.

Go!Messenger
In February 2008, in partnership with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, we launched Go!Messenger, a wireless communications package for the PSP (PlayStation Portable) gaming device. Go!Messenger is based on technology invented in our research labs. It enables PSP users to send video and voice calls and instant messages to each other using a new and intuitive screen keyboard when connected to wireless broadband at home, or to a public Wi-Fi hotspot, including BT Openzone, when on the move. More than 310,000 users have now registered for this service.