Independent Television Network News:

--Acquires More Satellite Capacity for Interactive TV Services
--Launches Mobile and Broadband Programming Services
--Will Join with BBC to Develop Free-to-Air Satellite Service

UK commercial terrestrial broadcaster, the Independent Television Network (generally referred to by the acronym, "ITV"), has signed a long-term contract with satellite company, SES Astra, that will give it a further 16 Mbits of transmission capacity. The new capacity will come on stream next month, and ITV says that it will use it for new services, such as "interactive programming." The broadcaster already has five Astra transponders: "In order to continue ITV's successful digital strategy we need to ensure that we have the transmission capacity to meet our future strategic objectives," ITV CEO, Mike Desmond, said in a prepared statement. "We believe that digital TV will play an important role in maintaining our pre-eminent position as the UK's largest commercial broadcaster; the additional capacity will enable ITV to build on our successful family of digital channels and offer digital audiences the best programming and services available."

In other ITV news:

• The broadcaster has launched a mobile service, called ITV Mobile, that works on all WAP-enabled phones. The first phase of the service, which launched last week, allows end-users to access on-demand highlights or made-for-mobile footage from a range of ITV programs, including This Morning, Coronation Street, and I'm a Celebrity?Get Me Out of Here!; access news about ITV soap operas and dramas, as well as showbiz news and gossip; access news, sports and weather info and sign up for alerts; enter competitions for prizes; download games, ringtones and wallpapers; and access a TV guide that includes a reminder service. Individual content offerings are priced between 25p and £5.00. The second phase of the launch, which will begin in January, will see ITV commissioning programming especially for the new mobile service.
• It says that it will begin a trial of a broadband service in the next few weeks. The service, which will be available in the Brighton and Hastings areas, will provide a local news and weather channel, community activities, entertainment content, travel and property advertising, advertising for local businesses and local classified ads. Both the broadband service and ITV Mobile were developed by ITV's recently formed Consumer Division.
• It is teaming with the BBC to develop a free digital satellite service, with the working title "Freesat," that will complement the UK's free-to-air digital terrestrial service, Freeview. The service, which will be targeted at viewers in areas where Freeview reception is poor or non-existent and which is scheduled to launch in the first half of 2006, will feature an EPG and all the BBC's and ITV's interactive TV services, as well as digital channels from third parties. As part of the development of the new service, ITV says that it will start broadcasting its channels unencrypted on digital satellite.

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