Manufacturer TVonics is using a live boxing title fight to encourage customers to hook up their Freeview boxes to the internet.
The World Light-Heavyweight title challenge between Nathan Cleverly and Tony Bellew at the Liverpool Echo Arena is being streamed live through Freeview channel 112 as part of the new Sports Tonight channel launched by Kelvin MacKenzie and backed by former Tory party treasurer Lord Ashcroft. Coverage will be taken from BoxNation, which has previously only been available on the Sky satellite platform.
MacKenzie, a media commentator and former editor of The Sun, launched the TalkSport radio station prior to its sale to UTV in 2005.
Sports Tonight is using the white label interactive application created by technology firm Slipstream, which sits behind an MHEG-5 ‘barker channel’. If the viewer has a connected device they are presented with a menu enabling them to pull in selected content over the internet.
Tvonics DTR HD500 and DTR Z500HD models are part of an estimated two million Freeview HD devices in the market, the majority of which have internet connectivity, though the question remains as to how many of them have actually been connected.
