Milan, 25 October 2001. FASTWEB - the e.Biscom Group company that was the first to launch integrated TV on-demand, high-speed Internet and telephone services in Italy on a proprietary fibre optic network - has reached an agreement with TELE+ - Italy's first pay TV - for TELE+ film and sport exclusives to be broadcast on FastWeb fibre TV.
The agreement is a major enhancement to the TV on-demand bouquet FastWeb offers its residential users. It introduces the content of the TELE+ group's three Premium networks, TELE+ BIANCO, TELE+ NERO and TELE+ GRIGIO, as well as PALCO, the pay per view service of TELE+Digitale, and +CALCIO, the channel that broadcasts all first- and second-division Italian soccer matches, to which TELE+ has exclusive rights. FastWeb network users will therefore be able to subscribe to the TELE+ services without having to install a satellite dish and satellite digital decoder. For the TELE+ group, the agreement is an opportunity to make its digital offer available to a wider audience through a new media, FastWeb's Internet-enabled fibre network.
FastWeb services are currently available in the cities of Milan, Turin, Genoa and Rome, on a network covering more than 4,000 km, which is growing rapidly in line with the national development plan to link Italy's main cities.
From December 2001, in addition to the fixed telephone, high-speed Internet (or Mega Internet) and TV on-demand services that are already available, FastWeb users will be able to receive, via the same connection, another complete TV schedule in addition to those already on offer: the Stream pay and pay per view theme channels (following an agreement signed in March 2001), the e.BisMedia channel (with the IlNuovoTG news programme, Universal Studios box-office hits, the documentaries of Discovery Channel) and Rai Click (a channel set up by e.Biscom and the RAI state broadcaster, which offers 10,000 hours of RAI archive material and programmes broadcast over the previous seven days, for on-request viewing at any time of day).
For sports fans in particular, the new agreement makes it possible to watch the matches of Italy's first-division soccer teams, including Juventus, of which FastWeb is the official sponsor for the 2001-2002 championship.
Users interested in the FastWeb-TELE+ offer can take out a subscription to the TELE+ service of their choice through FastWeb. With a special device equipped with an infrared keyboard and remote control - supplied by FastWeb to enable access to the TV on-demand service and Internet surfing on the family TV set - viewers can directly access the network on their TV and watch the programmes of their choice with the quality of digital video and audio.
"The agreement with TELE+ means FastWeb can now deliver direct to the homes of residents with access to our fibre network the rich satellite television offer of the pay TV channels," said FastWeb chief operating officer Emanuele Angelidis. "The integration of different media, through our services for TV on-demand, telephone and high-speed Internet at 10 Mbits/sec via a single cable, is further enhanced by the synergy with Tele+, demonstrating the enormous application potential of direct end-user access to the fibre network."
"This is another step forward in the development of digital television services," commented Tele+ chief executive officer Olivier Gerolami. "Now the best of the pay and pay per view offer of Italy's first pay TV is available not only via satellite but also via fibre to the home."