New Technology Reviews!.: britain

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Virgin Media's TiVo hard disk recorder and on-demand set top box has changed the way people find and view TV programmes, according to the fibre-optic entertainment supremo.</div>
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A quarter of its users forgo the electronic programme guide (EPG) favoured by other set top boxes, instead preferring TiVo's intelligent search feature.</div>
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Half of these searches are for programmes that aren't in audience research company BARB's top fifty for the UK - which means more people are seeking out programmes, rather being spoon-fed the top result on the EPG.</div>
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According to Virgin Media's second 'Entertainment Index', the top ten customer searches were:</div>
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1. The Apprentice<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />2. Camelot<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />3. Doctor Who<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />4. House<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />5. Glee<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />6. EastEnders<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />7. Dexter<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />8. Casualty<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />9. Desperate Housewives<br style="color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,'Bitstream Charter',serif; line-height: 1.5;" />10. Fringe</div>
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Too demanding</h4>
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Dexter and Fringe aren't broadcast on conventional 'terrestrial' channels, instead being shown on FX and Sky1 respectively which, Virgin Media reckons, reinforces the prominence of "word of mouth social recommendations or marketing campaigns".</div>
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What Virgin Media hasn't revealed is the number of people who prefer watching on-demand to recording on the TiVo's hard drive, so it's not clear if the Tivo's 1TB of storage is proving increasingly redundant.</div>
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At 484 million views in the first half of 2011, Virgin Media's on-demand service is still dwarfed by the BBC iPlayer - which achieved 175 million views in December 2010 alone.</div>
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The company believes it's on track to achieve one billion views this year, but this could be a drop in the ocean compared to the (free) iPlayer's results.</div>
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We doubt Virgin is too worried though. It's already delivered Britain's fastest fibre-optic broadband to many homes, and many will take out a TV package at the same time.</div>
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Virgin Media's TiVo is 'changing telly habits'

Virgin Media's TiVo hard disk recorder and on-demand set top box has changed the way people find and view TV programmes, according ...

<p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" class="aligncenter" src="http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/3143/btvisiontunnel200200.jpg" /></p><br/>BT has questioned its competitors' commitments to developing fast broadband across rural Britain, following complaints from other ISPs about BT's control over essential parts of the network.<br/><br/>Other British ISPs including TalkTalk and Virgin Media wrote to government minister Ed Vaizey earlier this month to complain about BT's pricing to allow them to access the necessary poles and ducts.<br/><br/>The aforementioned group of UK ISPs claimed that BT's prices and terms and conditions for physical infrastructure access will limit the government's plans to roll-out fast broadband to rural Britain.<br/><br/><strong>Rural broadband woes</strong><br/><br/>The physical infrastructure access (PIA) process should offer rival broadband providers access to poles and ducts to carry fibre broadband to rural Britain.<br/><br/>BT's prices are said to be five times as high as the actual costs, according to its competitors.<br/><br/>"We are unanimous in the belief that PIA will be a commercial and policy failure if [BT's] Openreach does not revise its prices… the product is unfit to proceed into commercial use," the letter reads.<br/><br/>For its part, BT has been quick to issue a statement claiming it is: "The only company who has installed broadband equipment in exchanges serving the last 10% of the UK and so we would question whether these companies are genuinely interested in serving rural Britain given their track record."

British ISPs bicker over plans for fast rural broadband

BT has questioned its competitors' commitments to developing fast broadband across rural Britain, following complaints from other ISPs a...