‘Showcase’ provides content owners with an innovative new way of reaching Freeview homes by using the new Top Up TV+ DTR (Digital Television Recorder). Camelot, operator of The National Lottery, and The Audi Channel have already signed up to the new service and their content will be available on ‘Showcase’ from July 17th.

Freeview is on the main television set in over 8.4 million homes, making it the largest and fastest growing digital platform in the UK. Channel capacity is scarce and so costs of launching a channel are prohibitive. ‘Showcase’ gives content owners a cost effective way to access the burgeoning number of Freeview homes. ‘Showcase’ is easily accessible from the front page of the specially designed Top Up TV + DTR electronic programme guide, making it easy for viewers to find and watch.

Camelot and Audi are pioneers in ‘Showcase’ and will be the first to offer exciting new content.

Viewers of the National Lottery Xtra service can look forward to exclusive behind the scenes access to The National Lottery draws, thrilling insights into what really happens if you win the Jackpot, films on the Good Causes which have benefited from National Lottery funding, weekly Lottery news updates, performances and other exclusive content.

With the range of digital platforms and services expanding all the time, Camelot is committed to giving The National Lottery as broad a presence as possible. The ‘Showcase’ service will build on the success the lottery already enjoys on the internet at www.national-lottery.co.uk, on Sky Active and on mobile phones with the Play by Text service. Lottery players using ‘Showcase’ will be able to download an hour of exciting features and interviews on to their set-top boxes, including interviews with Jackpot winners, insights into how the £20 billion-plus raised for Good Causes has been spent and guides to the portfolio of lottery games. New content will be available on a weekly basis.

In a move to create a new platform for the brand, The Audi Channel - already a 24-hour non-subscription service on Sky Digital channel

884 and at www.audi.co.uk - will be available free to users of Top Up TV Anytime.

Users of Top Up TV Anytime will be able to download one hour of content, from The Audi Channel to their set-top boxes, which will be refreshed every week, allowing users to view The Audi Channel content on demand without recourse to a schedule - and watch it at a time that is convenient to them.

This platform will offer some of The Audi Channel’s most popular content. As well as programming on Audi’s product range, the content will also include interviews with high profile Audi owners, such as Bryan Ferry, Antony Worrall Thompson, Beverley Knight and Vanessa Mae.

“Today companies spend millions sponsoring and creating great content that is often only seen by a limited number of people. ‘Showcase’ now enables them to set free that content, getting it into people’s living rooms and reaching out to a much wider audience,” said David Chance, Chairman, Top Up TV. “Most companies cannot afford to have a dedicated video stream on Freeview. ‘Showcase’ enables them to get their content onto Freeview in a cost effective way, without relying on the viewer being tuned in at the moment it happens to be broadcast.”

Martyn Fox, Camelot Controller of Broadcast, said: “The National Lottery Xtra service will give our players a real insight into what happens if you win a life-changing jackpot. It will take them behind the inner workings of the lottery, and provide information and fun facts on the whole portfolio of National Lottery games and how to play them. Most importantly it will show how the £20 billion-plus raised for Good Causes has funded the largest programme of civic and social regeneration seen in the UK since the 19th Century.”

"This platform deal is a very exciting development for The Audi Channel," says Peter Duffy, Audi UK’s Head of Marketing. "The Channel is rightly proud of its high-quality programming, so the opportunity to deliver it to a whole new audience of viewers and potential Audi customers is one we were eager to grasp.

"Audi has always been at the forefront of new technologies, so just as it was apt that we were the first brand to go beyond advertiser-funded TV programmes, it’s also fitting that we are looking into revolutionary methods of distribution such as peer-to-peer and on demand."

All viewers with a Top Up TV+ DTR will be able to access ‘Showcase’ via the specially designed EPG, whether they subscribe to pay content or just use it as a Freeview DTR. The content is downloaded to the box so it’s available to watch at any time.

The current platform deal between Top Up TV and The Audi Channel will run until February 2008, and with Camelot until January 2008. Top Up TV is working with Digital Planet who is advising and brokering commercial deals with partners.

About Top Up TV+ and Top Up TV Anytime service

The Top Up TV+ DTR is one of the best boxes in the market giving access to all the Freeview* channels. It comes with the latest digital features so users will be able to pause live TV, as well as record two channels at the same time. Customers can record their own Freeview* programmes to their Top Up TV+ DTR with no need for video tapes (record up to 120 hours of TV on the box), it even has series record which is not available on most other DTRs.

With a Top Up TV+ DTR customers can also subscribe to the Top Up TV Anytime service which provides over 150 programmes to watch at any time, from digital channels including Disney Channel, LIVING, UKTV Gold, Paramount Comedy and many more for only £9.99 a month.

Picturebox, a premium movie service from Universal Studios, is also available for an extra £5 for 7 movies a week and Setanta Sports is available now through the Top Up TV+ DTR. Setanta Sports features exclusively live US PGA Golf Tour and 46 Barclays Premier League matches a season from 2007-2008 season, plus much more for only £9.99 a month plus a £10 connection fee. For more details about the Top Up TV+ DTR, go to www.topuptv.com or call 08700 543210.

*Freeview is a separate free digital TV service which does not require a monthly subscription. Freeview is not operated by Top Up TV.