CBS Paramount Scores New Content Deal with BT

LONDON, May 10: CBS Paramount International Television has
reached a deal to provide further on-demand programming to BT Vision, a new
digital TV service in the U.K.

BT this week kicks off its first-ever national campaign to
promote the service with a wide range of print, broadcast and online ads. The
company has also reached deals for BT Vision to be retailed at John Lewis and
electrical specialist Comet this summer. BT Vision is enabled by the V-box, an
HD-ready television set-top box that connects to BT Broadband. It offers
thousands of hours of on-demand content and the Freeview channels, as well as a
personal video recorder that can record up to 80 hours of programming. BT is
making the V-box—worth £199—free to BT Broadband customers. The box
is installed by a BT engineer, with an installation fee of £60 and a connection
charge of £30. BT will introduce a self-install version of BT Vision later this
year. There is no mandatory subscription or monthly fee. Customers can either
pay per view or subscribe to programming blocks. There are current and library
movies, music videos, concerts, kids’ programs, recent and classic television
shows and other genres. BT Vision Sports will be launched later in the summer
offering its subscribers access to a huge selection of Premiership and other
on-demand sports as well as live FA Premiership and Scottish Premier League
football action from the Setanta Sports channel.

The new deal with CBS Paramount International TV brings to
the service titles such as Sex and The City
and Twin Peaks. BT expects to
name further content partners in the next few weeks.