The chief executive of BT Entertainment, Andrew Burke, has offered some new information on BT's broadband TV (IPTV) service. The product is now due to be introduced during late summer 2006:

BT planned to generate money from features such as personalised schedules and messaging services such as VoIP conferencing. Burke confirmed that BT was targeting late summer 2006 for the commercial launch of the service.

According to Digital-Lifestyles, Burke also said that BT's IPTV device will combine a digital terrestrial television receiver with a broadband receiver, allowing it to receive television signals through the air and also down a user's broadband connection. It is thought that this will allow users to get video-on-demand over their broadband connection.

BT said back in June it had chosen Microsoft's TV IPTV Edition software for its IPTV package, and admitted that the service wouldn't include a full TV schedule broadcast over broadband.

Many details remain uncertain, although the product is expected to require a minimum connection speed of 1.5Mbps, suggesting that quite a few Internet users may be unable to use it.

Early information also suggests that BT won't force customers into using one of their own ISP's, although we remain concerned about how such a service can operate with modern day broadband caps. More @ ZDNet.