Telewest

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Telewest (formerly Telewest Broadband and Telewest Communications) is a trading name of NTL Incorporated. The merger of Telewest and NTL's UK business was completed on March 3, 2006.

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Services

On its cable network, Telewest provides several residential services including:

  • Talk Unlimited, Talk Mobile, Talk International, Talk Evenings and Weekends and Talk Weekends telephony services.
  • Talk Anywhere, bundled minutes every month that can be carried over to the next. (North West customers only)
  • A digital television service, formerly named Active Digital.
  • Blueyonder (formerly Cable Internet), broadband Internet access via cable modems. Also available, dial-up internet services.
  • An analogue cable TV service, which is due to be fully terminated in 2007.
  • "Teleport" A Video on Demand service.
  • "TV Drive" A Digital Video Recorder.

Telewest also provides extensive business telephony and data network services that provide a significant portion of its revenue streams, and carrier services to other telcos.

Telewest had gone through a lot of trouble recently due to its reputation for poor customer service and the huge debts it created when constructing its cable network, acquiring other cable companies and assets. In 2004 Telewest re-structured its balance sheet by swapping its unsecured debt for 98.5% of its shares. Shares were then consolidated and delisted from London. Major Telewest shareholders included Huff and Liberty Media (run by cable tycoon John Malone). Since then, the company had emerged from financial restructuring and completed a merger with larger rival NTL.

It also owns former Deutsche Telekom company Eurobell, a cable company in Devon and Cornwall, which is fully integrated into the company now and Flextech, a content provider with a number of wholly-owned channels (including Bravo and LIVINGtv). Telewest also owns 50% in the UKTV venture.

NTL trading as Telewest passes approximately 4.2 million homes. Blueyonder speeds offered are 2 Mbit/s, 4 Mbit/s and 10 Mbit/s with prices ranging from around £14.99 per month to £35 per month. The service currently 'uncapped', meaning that usage is unlimited and no extra charges are payable related to the amount of data downloaded.

Telewest have launched a HDTV service and a new PVR device which is known as the TV Drive. This means that they are the first UK broadcaster to offer HDTV, several months earlier than their chief competitor, BSkyB. Telewest's TV Drive product incorporates a 160 gigabyte hard drive as standard, meaning it will be able to store around 80 hours of recorded programmes. This is in contrast to BSkyB's [[Sky+]] service which currently offers only 80 gigabytes (40 hours) as standard, with a 160 gigabyte drive available at a significant premium.

Similarly, Telewest's product incorporates three tuners while Sky's incorporates only two, meaning that Telewest's service could record two channels at the same time while watching a third. Telewest is the first UK Television provider to offer HD content. In January 2006 they started to broadcast HD documentaries such as "the blue planet" and "Pride" through teleport and will start to broadcast HD movies in February 2006.

Teleport is the brand name for Telewest's video on demand service (VOD). It was launched in 2005 and allows users to search through a large library of programmes and watch them at their leisure as part of their subscription. Teleport also offers movies that can be purchased and watched as many times as desired within a twenty four hour period. Teleport also offers HD content that will work in conjunction with the TVDrive PVR.

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External links

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See also

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