FASTWEB signs VOD deal with Disney-ABC-ESPN

October 1, 2008 - Italian telco FASTWEB has signed a deal with Disney-ABC-ESPN Televison to launch a number of television series, including Lost and Criminal Minds, on the video on demand element of its IPTV service, becoming the content provider's first such deal in the country.

The agreement was reportedly negotiated by DIsney-ABC-ESPN Television's Edward Humphrey, Director of New Media Distribtion and Stefania Severini, Senior Manager of Programme Distribution for EMEA (south), together with Claudia Bellinzona, FASTWEB's Head of Content and Programming.

Maria Kyriacou, Senior VP of New Media Distribution for Disney-ABC-ESPN Television, commented: “We are pleased to be working with FASTWEB to offer consumers in Italy some of our most popular series on demand, for the first time. Making our content available to international viewers to access in a variety of ways, when and how they choose to is an important commitment for us, and this agreement brings us even closer to achieving this.”

FASTWEB CEO Stefano Parisi also revealed recently when speaking during a Parliamentary enquiry on the development of Italy's telecoms industry that the telco's fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network has passed 2mn households and within four years the telco will connect 4mn homes with fibre. Mr. Parisi also revealed that by the end of this year, FASTWEB will launch a broadband service offering speeds of up to 100 Mbps.

Fastweb has not divulged subscriber numbers for its 'ONtv' IPTV service, but reported that the figure increased 77% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period of 2007, and it now has a total of 1.387mn broadband clients.