Swisscom to Trial IP TV Service

ZURICH -- In September 2004, Swisscom subsidiary Bluewin will begin testing, as announced, a new generation of television via ADSL. In collaboration with Microsoft, Bluewin will initially provide 600 homes with 25 TV channels. The offering also includes 5 pay-TV channels, video-on-demand and an integrated video recorder, which also features a live pause function for TV broadcasts. Streaming TV programs over an alternative network will enable Swiss market requirements and the features that are different from existing TV offerings to be evaluated. The tests will last for around four months, after which work will begin on the market launch of Bluewin TV in 2005.

"Many people today already view digital photos saved on a computer on their TVs. This means that the networked home is just around the corner. Our goal must be to integrate and offer telephony and Internet services in a networked home, and even television in the future," says Adrian Bult, CEO of Swisscom Fixnet. With the development of its TV service, Swisscom subsidiary Bluewin is combining ADSL with television in collaboration with Microsoft. In Switzerland, some 700,000 customers already use ADSL. The Bluewin TV offering can be supplemented to include an unlimited number of TV channels. Customers first choose which TV channels they wish to use and then simply pay for the channels they decide to order. Bluewin is preparing attractive price-performance packages to address the needs of individual customers.

Swisscom AG