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Government Minister visits Stream IPTV project
Hull company Broadband Capital will welcome a second MP in less than three months when Ivan Lewis will see first hand how the Steam IPTV system works.
Mr Lewis, who is Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Care Services and MP for Bury South, will visit the offices at Norwich House, Saville Street, Hull on Tuesday August 5. 2008.
The visit comes after West Hull and Hessle MP Alan Johnson saw the Steam IPTV project, an interactive television service for older people, in April and promised to speak to Mr Lewis.
On his visit, he will meet the Broadband Capital team and watch a live demonstration of the services as well as discussing current progress and the future development.
Also attending during the minister’s visit will be Kim Ryley, chief executive of Hull City Council; Diana Johnson, MP for Hull North, Angela Dunn, head of Hull City Council Community Care Services; Steve Fleming, Hull City Council Group Manager Knowledge Economy; Claire Brown, Locality Manager, Community Care KHCC; Councillor Stephen Baker, Portfolio holder for health and voluntary services; and Jean Templeton, Chief Officer, Hull Churches’ Home From Hospital. Mr Lewis’ private secretary, Dr Edward Scully will also be there.
Managing Director of Broadband Capital, Dr Mark Jones, said, ‘To have two ministers visit the project, and win a national award, all within the space of three months is, to say the least, encouraging! We know that the issues of independent living for older people and service transformation are currently very high on the government’s agenda, so I guess we’re moving in the right direction.’
Chief Executive Officer Kim Ryley said: “I am delighted that the STREAM project is attracting the attention of senior ministers. This is a great compliment to the creativity of the team who has developed this unique service. We are already receiving an extremely positive response from residents and businesses and are currently exploring how we could develop the STREAM project across the whole of Hull.”
Councillor Stephen Baker added: “We are continually looking for new ways to improve the service we provide to our most vulnerable residents. The STREAM project helps local people to live independently, by giving them access to a range of information about local services through their existing television. I am pleased that the service is attracting government attention.”
Around 50 people use the service (dubbed the Independent Living Campaign) to access information, communication and transactional services through their television. Additional users are currently being connected, and the target is to connect 250 by the end of March 2009.
Last month, the STREAM project, representing Hull City Council, won the award for IT Project Innovation, at the Local Government Good Communications Award 2008. The award was given to the team in recognition of their achievement to improve communication with residents. The judges, in awarding first place to Hull, said of the project that it “lays a foundation for future delivery of services from both the Local Authority and their chosen partners.”
For more information/photo opportunities please contact:
Craig Lazenby
Press Office for Stream
Tel: 01482 649343
Or
Alan Mumby
01482 482900
Notes to editor
Sample content from Stream’s Independent Living Campaign can be seen at: http://www.streamonline.co.uk/intial.asp?tag=Health and http://www.streamonline.co.uk/intial.asp?tag=Community
More information on the Independent Living Campaign, including a video interview with a user, can be seen at:
http://www.broadbandcapital.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=44
Background
The STREAM project started in 2005 and has been developed and delivered by Broadband Capital, a company set up and funded by Hull City Council to address the issue of digital exclusion. [www.broadbandcapital.co.uk] In 2006, Stream launched an online, on-demand broadband TV service for the local business community [www.streamonline.co.uk], and Learning Stream, an IPTV pilot project delivering school TV to six city schools.
The third project, Stream TV (Independent Living Campaign) was launched in January this year, and provides vulnerable older people with access to local programmes and services through their existing television, using an IPTV application developed by the Stream team. Each person receives a digital television set top box that gives them access to the free digital television channels, and a broadband connection that provides them with access to interactive local services entirely on demand on the Stream TV channel.
In 2007, Hull City Council came third in the Government’s Digital Challenge competition with the STREAM project, and became members of the finalist network, the DC10plus. The Independent Living Campaign has been part funded by money provided through the DC10plus. DC10plus is a collaborative body of local authorities and their partners whose vision is to drive forward the digital inclusion agenda. http://www.dc10plus.net/
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