<font color=cc0000>EXCLUSIVE:</font> Telewest confirms TV Internet trial

Telewest this afternoon confirmed to Digital Spy that a pilot trial of TV Internet access was launched today.

Up until now, Telewest subscribers have only been able to access a so-called "walled garden" of internet sites, specially adapted for TV. Open Internet Access allows subscribers to go beyond this walled garden and browse the wider internet; ntl, Britain's largest cable operator, offers a similar service for £7.50 per month.

Telewest's Alexandra Legg explained: "The pilot is to a small group of existing customers who have received a letter inviting them to try our new TV internet service free of charge for four weeks."

Those customers invited to take part in the trial sign up by completing a form on Telewest's interactive service - within 48 hours of signing up, option 9 on the main interactive menu will allow them to access the internet. At the end of the pilot, triallists will be asked for feedback by means of an on-screen questionnaire, which Telewest says "will be used to influence the development of the service."

Telewest runs middleware from Liberate Technologies, currently a bug-fixed variant of version 1.2.