YouTube on your TV

TelstraClear may let customers on its InHome cable networks in Wellington and Christchurch access YouTube on their televisions and says it would be technically possible to show internet sites such as Trade Me or news sites as television channels.

The company will start offering personal video recorders (PVRs) to more than 80,000 cable network customers from February.

The HomeMedia PVR can be used to access TelstraClear's pay-television service, to which about half its InHome customers subscribe.

The pay-TV service is provided by Sky Television and is largely indistinguishable from Sky's own service.

Like MySky and TiVo, the PVR will let customers pause and rewind "live" television and record programmes straight from its electronic programming guide (EPG) to a hard drive.

But consumer markets head Steve Jackson says it has trumped MySky and TiVo with a device that has 300 gigabytes of storage and delivers "1080P" high-definition.

The PVR will cost $499, or $15 a month, plus installation – not including pay-TV subscriptions.

Product manager Jeff Doyle says that because its PVRs are based on Java software, it will be easier to add more futuristic functions.

"This is a platform on which we are going to build and expand our entertainment services nationwide. There will be several things happening over the next 12 to 24 months. I don't want to commit to what they are at this stage, but video-on-demand plays a key component in that."

Mr Jackson says that adding YouTube could be "relatively easily do-able".

Mr Doyle says "anything internet-based" is possible, but services would have to be relevant and not conflict with TelstraClear's agreements with Sky and with studios.

Mr Jackson confirms speculation that TelstraClear's deal with Sky restricts the content it can independently make available through its pay-TV service.

Details of the arrangement are confidential. Broadly, it cannot independently source traditional broadcasting content – the SciFi channel, for example – but could contract with new-media firms.

Trade Me chief executive Jon Macdonald says the changing delivery and business models for TV are really interesting, but it has no plans at present for a TV version of Trade Me.

"People may start browsing the net more in their living room as better set-top boxes and wireless keyboards improve user experience, but I'm not convinced it will shift people away from watching TV on the couch while tapping away on their laptops."

The PVR is being manufactured by Irish company Digisoft. Its optional add-ons include:

A service that lets viewers send emails, text and multimedia messages through their televisions.

DigiTracker, which lets customers view maps on their televisions showing the location of family members who have GPS-equipped cellphones.

eRental, a service developed in conjunction with Video Ezy in Australia that lets consumers download HD movies from kiosks installed in video shops to USB memory sticks that they can then play back through their PVR.

Mr Doyle says none will be available on launch, but everything is being evaluated. "We wouldn't be going with Digisoft if we didn't have plans to try and investigate some of those things."

Mr Jackson says TelstraClear could buy a derivative of the PVR that accessed all its content over fibre-optic cable and would not then be restricted to the areas covered by its cable networks.

"But that is down the line on our road map."

He acknowledges TelstraClear has been late to market with a PVR. "We know we have been a little slow off the mark."

- © Fairfax NZ News