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IPTV Adoption |
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Inuk Networks signs up more than 40,000 users to its Freewire TV
IPTV service
Other Topics:
IPTV Business
Development, IPTV Wireless
STB
Inuk Networks
February 14, 2008
Doubles nationwide IPTV adoption with UK’s largest deployment
London, UK -- Inuk Networks today announced that 40,000 people are
now receiving digital television through the company’s Freewire TV
IPTV service. The current size of the Freewire TV customer-base
means the company now has more users than any other true IPTV
service provider; and more than doubles the total number of UK
viewers who receive linear television using IPTV as the delivery
mechanism. |
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Freewire TV is supplied
free at the point of entry to students with access to the JANET high
speed network which connects all UK universities. Since September
2007, Inuk has successfully rolled out its Freewire TV service to
more than 100,000 student bedrooms at over forty universities around
the UK. Universities wanting to offer their on-campus students
access to multiple channels of digital television can implement the
Freewire service with very little effort or cost and without having
to install any additional capital equipment.
The Freewire TV service can be delivered over any IP-enabled network
using highly bandwidth efficient multicast technology which allows a
large number of channels to be carried without significant network
loading. Inuk Network’s Freewire delivery platform, over which the
Freewire TV service runs, is capable of managing not only the
delivery of hundreds of channels of video content but also a carrier
class VoIP solution and broadband Internet access.
Commenting on the rapid adoption in the UK Marcus Liassides, CEO at
Inuk Networks, said: “As an IPTV platform we get real-time reporting
on every single one of our customers and the data is throwing up
some very interesting patterns and habits of student TV viewers.
Students across the UK are embracing Freewire as their primary TV
viewing platform and are on average watching over three and a half
hours of TV per day, with the early-evening soaps proving to be most
popular. Students are also a lot making use of the built-in ability
of the Freewire platform to flip between watching their favourite
shows and general web browsing on the computer.”
The next phase of development will see Inuk Networks adding
additional premium channels and content to its Freewire TV service
as it prepares to launch its residential IPTV offering in the coming
months through an exclusive partnership with Cable & Wireless. This
groundbreaking deal sees Cable & Wireless providing Inuk with access
to the UK’s most advanced nationwide multicast network enabling the
delivery of the Freewire TV service to the majority of UK homes. In
addition, Inuk will be able to supply bundled telephony and
broadband services under the Freewire brand to these residential
customers.
“In the wake of the UK’s first analogue TV signal switch-off, now
couldn’t be a better time for us to be underscoring our position as
the pre-eminent supplier of an IP -based digital television
service,” continued Liassides. “From the outset a key driver for us
to deploy Freewire TV has been to provide a workable television
solution for the estimated 6 million people in the UK who are in
danger of being digitally disenfranchised by the ongoing switch-off
of the analogue service.”
Notes to Editors
- The basic Freewire TV service is free to users and
broadcasts 25 entertainment channels including all the BBC
channels, C4, E4, Film 4 and More 4 and digital radio stations.
- Freewire Extra provides 19 additional premium channels
including FX, Living and MTV as well as Setanta Sports and costs
£9.99 per month.
- There is also a paid-for Freewire International option for
access to specialist language channels including Zee TV, B4U and
Sony Entertainment TV.
About Inuk Networks
Inuk Networks is a triple-play service provider which has
capitalised on the rapid growth of broadband technologies by
developing a platform for the distribution of broadcast quality TV
and carrier-class telephony over closed IP-based networks.
Freewire (www.freewiretv.com) is
the company’s branded platform for the delivery of video, voice and
data services to consumer customers, with an initial direct focus on
the student market. Inuk’s Freewire platform can be customised and
delivered as a wholesale solution, offering broadband providers and
network operators the ultimate flexibility in how they provision
their TV, voice and converged entertainment service offerings.
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