NetPlayTV has agreed to a substantial airtime agreement for ITV's night time teleshopping trial window, "The Zone". NetPlayTV said on April 23rd, 2010 that six-month airtime trial deal marks another significant milestone in its goal of becoming the leading broadcaster of gambling experiences across different platforms.
"The Zone" will be shown on the ITV1 channel. NetPlayTV chief executive Martin Higginson said that the deal with ITV1 permits them to bring together a number of disciplines, from mobile to gaming in the launch of this new transactional TV bingo show for a trial period. Higginson commented that this deal is a breakthrough for the group and while the new format has been expensive to develop and unproven, they believe that the potential upside to be substantial.
ITV is able to shown transactional formats in a night time teleshopping window under the revised rules of Ofcom. NetPlayTV's format will sit together with other retail partners within the two hour window period, with "The Zone" offering quick fire keno games and bingo rounds. NetPlayTV said that the new bingo show will be show for thirty minutes, up to six nights per week on ITV, with programming beginning after midnight.
Aside from that, NetPlayTV will also show its Roulette Nation interactive game show in an additional thirty minute segment. ITV's Controller of TV Shopping and Gaming, William Von Rest said that "The Zone" is a six month trial of teleshopping material following the rule change of Ofcom last year.
Von Rest said that soft gaming products like bingo are very popular with their audience and they look forward to introducing NetPlayTV's wide array of one-of-a kind formats to their audience as part of this trial period. "The Zone" will also be supported by a TV, online and press advertising campaign. Roulette Nation, which is apart of the Challenge Jackpot.com family of brands, is shown on Virgin 1 and STV.
Roulette Nation is an interactive live roulette game, where gamers can participate via their phone or personal computer. Viewers can enjoy Roulette Nation for fun or by wagering with a one pound minimum bet. Roulette Nation currently produces more than 14 million pounds in wagers each month and pays out more than 400,000 a day in total winnings. The group also stated that Guy Templer, its business development director, will join the board of plc taking up the role of the group's chief operating officer.
The ITV agreement marks the group's latest milestone, after it recently took control of the Challenge Jackpot business, following an agreement with its former Virgin Media partner. The original agreement between Virgin and NetPlay was agreed in April 2009.
NetPlay took over the production of the TV channel and the online site. The Challenge Jackpot channel airs twenty-four hours a day on the Virgin cable TV network and on SKY's satellite TV network. The database of Challenge Jackpot produced 2.9m of gross gaming margin from May 12th, 2009-December 31st, 2009.
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Louis Blechdom
