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San Mateo, Calif.-based VOD and IPTV technology provider, Entone Technologies, says that UK cable operator, Telewest, has deployed its StreamLiner network video recorder scheduled playout solution to deliver the barker channel for its new TV-on-demand service, Teleport. (Note: the Teleport barker channel, which was created by BBC Broadcast, allows viewers to instantly purchase a title through a single click of the remote control.) According to Telewest’s director of product management and marketing, Philip Snalune, the cable operator chose the StreamLiner technology because it "supports the storage and scheduling features necessary to deliver mission critical MPEG-2 in a national broadcast environment." The barker channel is delivered as a single and continuous output from video servers installed in Woking, Surrey and Knowlsey, Merseyside: Entone StreamLiner will support playout of any pre-encoded content preset by the operator.

Telewest’s TV-on-demand service is available to around 26,000 customers in the UK towns of Cheltenham and Gloucester; according to Telewest, it will be available to over a million customers by early next year. The service currently offers two main TV content categories: Teleport Replay, a "catch-up" service that allows customers to view popular shows from the past week, such as "Eastenders" and "Casualty"; and Teleport Live, which offers special interest programs. In addition, the service incorporates the movies-on-demand service which Telewest launched in Bristol earlier this year, offering it under the brand, Teleport Movies. Telewest says that an additional content category, Teleport TV, will be added soon; it will feature classic BBC series, such as "French and Saunders" and "Waking the Dead," plus music videos on a subscription basis.

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