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uk sky - Bloomberg eTV service on Sky Digital |
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 After many years of planning and several months of development, Bloomberg has finally launched an interactive service on digital satellite in the UK. Whilst other European digital operators such as Stream in Italy and CSD Spain already offer interactive financial services, this is one of the first to be part of an enhanced broadcast.
This is not Bloomberg's first foray into interactive TV. A UK cable service, developed for the Liberate platform has been available for a number of years, however this service was heavily influenced by Bloomberg's web development teams in the US and certainly has a TV-Internet feel about it. This new OpenTV application, developed by NDS goes much further than the Liberate service and it would seem that the wait for the application has been worthwhile.
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The enhanced service integrates with Bloomberg's traditional on-air design and replaces the burnt-in data (bloomberg's various tickers etc.) with personalised content. The idea of 'personalisation' is not just limited to how the viewer filters through the interactive data that is being broadcast to the application (such as indices and news), but by making a return path connection, the viewer can create a personal portfolio of shares for a modem call costing 25 pence, which can then be displayed as a personal ticker.
The application includes a broad variety of financial information and services including a markets section which offers price information on UK, Europe and World markets including the FTSE, Dow Jones, CAC40, Nikkei, and Dax. The service also allows the viewer to call up graphical charts which plot the movements of the markets over a day, over a week or a 52 week period.
The service also includes market indices where viewers can choose to view Most Active Stocks, Biggest Risers and Biggest Fallers. News is also an important feature of this interactive service and viewers can choose from news stories in five different categories including UK Business, World Business, Technology, Sports and Government.
Interaction with the Bloomberg channel itself has also been incorporated as another major feature of the application with viewers able to participate in votes when broadcast. They can also choose to email any comments or questions on the day’s stories or market movements. Other features of the application include a Currency Calculator covering 18 major currencies. |
Enhanced TV 
