Telewest discusses Front Row refunds

Viewers who were charged for Front Row movies despite the service being unavailable will be refunded after their cases have been reviewed on an individual basis, the cable operator informed Digital Spy today (Thursday).

Front Row, the brand used for near-video-on-demand services across ntl and Telewest cable television, was unavailable on the Telewest digital cable platform through most of Tuesday and Wednesday, according to members of the Digital Spy forums who were attempting to use the service.

One member reports that the insertion of a short information "stinger" by Front Row into the NVOD schedule caused the server Telewest uses to play out Front Row movies to crash. The member reports a workaround has been put in place while a more permanent fix is found to the issue.

On the consumer-facing side of operations however, Front Row is now back to business as usual - and a Telewest spokesperson told us today: "All customers who attempted to order a Front Row movie when the service was down (and got charged) will be refunded. We'll be looking at this on an individual basis."