Telewest Broadband Lines Up New Box of TV Tricks

LONDON, UK -- 1/21/2005 -- Telewest Global, Inc. (NASDAQ: TLWT) announces that its subsidiary Telewest Broadband has entered an agreement with Scientific-Atlanta for the supply of new personal video recorder (PVR) set-top boxes, which will be made available to its cable TV customers later this year.


The new PVR set-top box incorporates a substantial 160Gb hard drive and three video tuners, which will allow viewers to receive Telewest Broadband’s digital TV service and record two programmes simultaneously while watching a third. This is a step forward from many existing PVRs, which can only manage two channels at once.

The set-top box will also allow customers to pause and instantly rewind live TV if their viewing is interrupted, so they never have to miss a moment of their favourite programmes again.

A simple on-screen menu will make the service easy to use for even the most technophobic households and, once recorded, programmes can be controlled like a DVD or video, without the hassle of tapes. The device will be able to store around 80 hours of programmes.

The Telewest Broadband PVR will also deliver high-definition TV (HDTV) content in the future -- offering a significant improvement in picture quality compared with today’s standard-definition digital TV broadcasts, especially on larger plasma and LCD screens.

Eric Tveter, president and chief operating officer at Telewest Broadband, said: “We will make our personal video recorder set-top box available later this year, putting a stop to missed soaps, interrupted films and arguments over which programmes to record. It’s a fantastic box of TV tricks that people will wonder how they ever survived without!”

The Scientific-Atlanta agreement follows this week’s launch of the first phase of Telewest Broadband’s new TV-on-demand service, which will offer a choice of additional movies, TV programmes and specialist content via customers’ remote controls.

Eric Tveter added: “Telewest Broadband’s unique combination of personal video recorder and television-on-demand services will mean our customers have the best of both worlds -- freedom from the TV schedule with PVR control, and on-demand access to a wider selection of movies and TV content. It’s not about offering people more TV, but giving them the freedom to watch exactly what they want, when they want.”

Ends

Notes to editors

Telewest, the broadband communications and media group, currently passes and markets to 4.7 million homes and provides multi-channel television, telephone and internet services to 1.76 million residential customers. For further information go to http://mediacentre.telewest.co.uk.

The cable company announced the first phase of its TV-on-demand service on 18 January 2005 with over 2,000 customers in Bristol now able to access recent movies via their remote control, which they can then control like a DVD for a 24-hour rental period. Further TV and specialist content will become available later this year, as the service is launched in cable areas around the country.

High-resolution Telewest Broadband images are available for the media to view and download free of charge from www.vismedia.co.uk.

Contact Information

John Moorwood

Press Contact

Telewest Broadband

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