BT Vision Trials Ad-Supported, Free Film Downloads

LONDON, December 5: The IPTV service BT Vision in the U.K.
is working with Hiro Media to supply free feature film downloads, featuring
un-skippable ads, to its users.

British consumers will be able to access Mischief Night, Played
and The Punk Rock Movie, all from
FremantleMedia Enterprises, at no cost, for one month after their download from
the BT Vision Download Store. Providing the viewer is online, the films will
feature different ads during each broadcast. The ads themselves, which cannot
be skipped, will be tailored to the viewers’ tastes using anonymous demographic
information, which the user submits when they register for the service. Viewers
can also send the films to friends via email to be viewed on the same terms.
Breaks, which will be placed at “appropriate places” in the films, will include
adverts provided by isobar, the digital advertising agency, from the AA,
Norwich Union and Territorial Army, among others.

Antony Carbonari, BT Vision’s interactive and commercial
media director, said: “This will be a fascinating trial: the concept of
targeted TV advertisements is now a reality through the combined technology
behind BT Vision Download Store and Hiro’s solution. We believe that
sympathetically placed, targeted advertising, combined with a viral
film-sharing capability, will be attractive to many customers in conjunction
with free or reduced content prices. We look forward to the results.”

—By Mansha Daswani