BT plans Internet TV services for Britain’s Indian and Polish communities

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British Telecom (BT) plans to launch an Internet TV service aimed at the UK’s Indian community that will allow viewers to watch Bollywood films without having to wait for their release in the country, a report said at the weekend. BT Vision, the group’s new internet TV arm, is keeping its Indian film catalogue under wraps until the launch, but it is expected that viewers will be offered lesser-known titles for downloads rather than recent blockbusters such as Devdas, The Sunday Telegraph stated.

BT said that similar on-demand services are also being planned for other niche audiences and that a service aimed specifically at London’s Polish community is being prepared for launch. BT believes niche entertainment would differentiate the group from traditional TV channels and existing video-on-demand services.

“The Indian community in Britain is poorly served for entertainment. UK cinemas rarely show Bollywood films, whereas in India they are available 24/7,” said a BT spokesman. “The economics of providing this kind of specialist content work better on internet TV’s narrow-cast technology, where films can be stored on central computers, than on television’s traditional broadcasting platform.”

Source: Sunday Telegraph