THUS, the communications provider that owns the Demon brand has announced it has become the preferred supplier for HSBC in the UK. The contract is expected to be around £50m plus over 5 years.
The contract covers connectivity for all their branches, ATMs etc (2,200 UK sites).
THUS recently sold off Demon Internet in the Netherlands to KPN, which means they have paid off most, if not all, of their debt and puts them in a very positive position compared to many UK telecoms providers.
THUS also recently acquired Your Comms (a business telco based in the North of England) and Legend, a smallish ISP with a portfolio of VoIP products. Other acquisitions must be on their mind.
Consumer Broadband is free, concentrate on business services
The consumer broadband market is rapidly becoming commoditised, which is good for the customer, though margins are extremely low, so providers need to find other revenue streams to make services pay for themselves.
Though Demon in the past have had lots of consumer customers, they have wisely concentrated on the business markets. Business broadband can still command premiums, as it allows customers to utilise services such as VoIP. Customers who want quality of service can even use broadband to connect to THUS’ backbone MPLS network so allowing teleworking and VPN’s to be securely provisioned.
THUS isn’t as big as several other telcos (in terms of customers or revenue), and in the recent past, they may have looked like a buy-out opportunity, however as they’ve concentrated on services that make them real revenue the tables may have turned with them becoming a threat to other bigger players who could be acquisition targets themselves.
If you’ve admired the look of that bloke in Star Trek with the funky sci-fi specs, then maybe the Eye-Theatre glasses might be just the thing for you. 
Weighing just 78g, the Eye-Theatre should be good for eight hours between charges (USB charger supplied), and anyone desperate to get that cyber-berk look can pre-order their video glasses from PDT’s website for £149.99, with the launch expected in mid-October. 
Sky has hit the pause button on delivering films (known by some as movies) and sport via their Sky By Broadband service, due to cracks in Microsoft’s Windows Media DRM software. 
Background
A long time favourite of the Digi-Lifestyles crew, WordWeb is a free, cut-down version of the WordWeb Pro software, and includes a comprehensive English thesaurus and dictionary with the ability to look up words from within external programs. 
Simply highlight the word you need a definition for and either click the system tray icon or use the default keyboard shortcut of CTRL+ALT+W. 
The program can also be used to look up word definitions and alternative synonyms or antonyms – you could, for example, look up “tree”, click on the “Types” tab and you’ll be presented with a list of different types of tree. 
The program – which comes in regionalised flavours – can also access the web to offer a web search of the highlighted word or link to a site with translation capabilities. 
BT Media and Broadcast the business to business outfit within BT’s Global services division has announced an alliance with Entriq. 
Headquartered in San Diego, California, Entriq have offices dotted around the world and have a host of existing big name broadcast customers that includes MTV Networks, NBC Universal and the UK’s Channel 4 television.
Sky TV has a strong market presence in providing big screen football to the drinking public in licensed premises in the UK. This virtual monopoly has long been a bone of contention for ‘Mine Hosts’ keen to encourage soccer imbibers to their premises for the big games, but over a proverbial barrel in terms of the price they have to pay. 
Greek, Czech and Arabic satellite TV channels have signed up with the UK’s Premier League for coverage of the UK’s beautiful game, and the deal they have is at a much better price (as we’d expect), than the one Sky negotiated, in what is a competitive market for commercial coverage of the national game. 
The much heralded NTL/Telewest merger, expected to be the saviour of the UK cable industry, has become the subject of another Private Equity takeover rumour and the likely winner, if it goes ahead, is Richard Branson. 
Market reaction
The UK’s national leading left newspaper, The Guardian, has been looking at what it thinks is the future of the daily newspaper. Since the successful launch of its Berlin edition in 2005, which rolls out of the presses somewhere between the size of a tabloid and the more traditional ‘quality’ broadsheet, it’s done a pile of blue sky thinking. 
Since the 
DAB in the UK has had a good week with prices dropping to an all time low, with High Street retailers are now making available a DAB radio with CD player for under £50. 
Sky’s satellite hybrid 
The UK Government have put two of their videos up on YouTube – for all the world to enjoy. 
The Death of YouTube?