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More details on Telewest DVR surface
# 21 November 2005, 14:14 by Frank
According to Tracy Swedlow’s InteractiveTV Today blog, Telewest says that it will launch its pilot DVR service with a number of customers early next month, and that it will launch the service commercially across the UK in the first quarter of next year.
The company says that next month it will begin pre-registering customers who are interested in receiving the “TV Drive” service, which will cost between £10 and £15 per month. The HDTV-compatible Scientific-Atlanta DVR will employ a 160GB hard-drive enabling up to 80 hours of storage, and three tuners, in comparison to the Sky+ DVR that offers only two tuners. According to reports, the existing set-top box can be kept as a second unit for £5 per month or for a one-off payment when the service launches in 2006.
Telewest also plans to launch HDTV concurrently with the new DVR service, making it the first digital TV platform in the UK to offer HDTV to its DVR customers a number of months before Sky. Telewest CFO Neil Smith has revealed that movie and drama content has already been signed from a number of providers but refused to elaborate further.